


Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Wildcard

by LiquidMadman



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Animals, Comedy, Drama, Dungeon, Family, Gen, Monsters, Mystery, Pokemon, Pokemon Fanfiction, Ranger - Freeform, Romance, Suspense, Talking Pokemon, Team Dynamics, Teamwork
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 45,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22076302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiquidMadman/pseuds/LiquidMadman
Summary: Eli is a young Riolu who just wants to live life his way. After a chance encounter with a team of Rangers, he discovers a golden opportunity to see the world and make a name for himself while also uncovering the truth about his mysterious family roots. He'll have to put together a motley crew of Pokemon just as crazy as he is to survive the trials ahead. Original PMD setting.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

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**Chapter 1**

From high in the clear and tranquil skies, the midday sun was beating down upon the rolling waves of the open ocean. The “azure frontier” as some called it, vast and unpredictable in nature. Flocks of white, yellow-footed seagulls swooped and soared above the water, only occasionally dipping low to skim over the waves in search of fish to catch. Legions of foam-capped crests defined the surface of the sea that day, creating a cacophony of roaring waves that crashed into each other before melding and forming even more. There was nothing to be seen for miles, except for a solitary island nestled between the paths of two major wind currents; Zephyr Island.

Zephyr Island measured about thirty square miles, appearing as a misshapen blob on just about any map it was charted on. It was most often represented in charts used by ship crews that would ferry goods and tourists alike between the island and mainland, as well as the neighboring islands at all times of the year. Its location granted it a temperate climate. The island had a rustic charm to it, with a lush deciduous forest covering most of the land in its center.

From above, one could see that it had a few noteworthy structures dotted about, but the most obvious was a sizable port town on the western side of the island, known as Zephyros.

The white sails and battered smokestacks of wood and metal ships crowded the narrow and bustling docks of the port town, brimming with Pokémon of all shapes, sizes, ages and species. Most were dock workers and sailors, but there were quite a few tourists mixed in as well, defined by their casual dress and overall curiosity about their surroundings. All of these Pokémon of varying professions and business had little choice but to press and bump against whomever they were passing while navigating the rickety wood and stone jetties. Some gave out customary greetings to each other, while others simply kept their heads down and went on their way. They would have to duck underneath the small yet powerful cranes that were unloading cargo onto the docks from the ships, as well as weave around the stronger, bulkier species of Pokémon like Machoke and Conkeldurr as they carried barrels and crates with their muscles alone. Groups of seagulls gazed down at all the action from their perches atop numerous masts and wooden beams that lined the docks, making almost as much noise to rival that of the Pokémon down below. The incessant chattering, bantering, and barking of orders in numerous different accents combined to form the distinct ambience of a typical, busy port town.

Among the din of laboring and sightseeing Pokémon, a tarp-covered wooden cart drawn by a Mudsdale, a big and sturdy horse-like Pokémon with brown fur, bulky red hooves, and a faded red and black mane and guarded by a Bidoof, a pudgy, red-nosed beaver-like Pokémon waited idly near the dock. They patiently waited until a short humanoid Pokémon with muscular arms known as a Machop approached them while carrying a wooden crate. They could barely hear each other over the clamor of the docks, but they were able to finish their business in good time, and within a few minutes the crate was loaded into the back of the cart. The Machop waved goodbye as the Bidoof hopped up onto the guard seat of the cart and signaled for the Mudsdale to take off. As they trundled away from the waterfront, it was obvious that the docks weren’t the only busy area of town that day.

Away from the water’s edge, the rest of the town was brimming with just as much activity. Just east of the docks was Windfall Square, the central hub of Zephyros. The Bidoof’s and Mudsdale’s cart bumped and rattled over the rough cobblestone streets of the square. The cobblestones embedded within the square resembled a mosaic, arranged in a circular pattern around the center with painted white stones forming dozens of designs that looked like swirling wind gusts. However, the feet, claws, hooves and paws of the hundreds of Pokémon mulling around the square mostly obscured these designs. Some of the largest buildings in the entire town circled the square, rising three to five stories above the promenade. They were built from a mishmash of wood, metal, and crudely-fashioned bricks, harkening back to the era of the town’s founding many years ago. Even so, the grand white stone pillars holding up their facades gave them a somewhat stately charm.

Colorful flags and banners were strung on lines that stretched between the many wrought-iron lampposts that dotted the square, and there were numerous stalls that were being set up in some of the open areas. The Bidoof took an interest in the stalls as he and his partner maneuvered the square, which was quickly becoming crowded with workers and merchants trying to set up for the coming festivities. He was thankful that there was still enough space for carts to move through, because after a few days that would no longer be the case and he’d have to take the long way round to make deliveries. It usually wasn’t this busy all year round, only because it was the beginning of spring and by extension, the tourist season. As cumbersome as the annual festivities made things, he knew they were an important part of life on the island. It was really one of the only times throughout the year that the citizens of the town were able to interact with so many visitors from abroad, and that was extremely important for commerce.

After leaving the crowded Windfall Square, the cart was guided down a few more streets towards the eastern ward of Zephyros. The town was mostly made up of winding cobblestone streets with brick and wooden buildings lining each side. Plumes of smoke billowed out of brick and stone chimneys from the roofs of every other house. Down on the street level, Pokémon including Scrafty, Linoone, and Glameow wearing a variety of clothing from scarves and belts to tailor-made tunics and hoods passed by boarded-up houses and storefronts using the narrow, cracked sidewalks. The Bidoof had to keep a close eye on the cart he and his partner were pulling due to the notoriously sticky fingers some denizens of the town tended to have.

The cart eventually arrived on a wide street with many other carts pulled by other kinds of quadruped Pokémon moving back and forth across it. The Bidoof quickly pulled out a manifest from the back of the cart, and double-checked the address on it. Sure enough, it looked like he was on the right street, so all there was left to do was to make his delivery…

Meanwhile on the very same street, a certain Pokémon was reclining on the shingled roof of one of the buildings that lined it. 

“Is _this_ your card?”

A blue paw held up a glossy playing card in the glaring midday sun, a light spring breeze causing it to flutter in its grasp. It was the black queen of spades. The abstractly-depicted human woman on the card frowned disapprovingly, but her mirrored twin below her seemed oddly amused. Perhaps it was because the creature holding her was talking to himself, or maybe she was just drawn that way. No, it was definitely the latter.

The Pokémon was staring up at the card he held aloft between two of his three digits as he was reclining on the roof. He was a bipedal, blue and black-furred jackal-like Pokémon known as a Riolu. He was a typical example of his species, save for a few defining features. He had a head of fluffy, unkempt blue hair between two pointed ears that stuck out and draped down slightly over his eyes in a thick tuft. There were two furry black appendages that hung down from either side of his face, accented by a black fur pattern on his face that ran down his pointed, short snout as well as over his eyes like a bandit’s mask. His eyes were quite striking as they were a glamorous, bright shade of magenta and harbored a keen sense of playful mischief.

The Riolu shook his head lightly as he gazed up at the card, returning the queen’s judgmental grimace with a sour scowl of his own. “No… No its not!” he huffed exhaustedly. He shut his eyes and let out a long sigh as he smacked his other paw against his forehead. “Ugh! I messed it up again…” he growled as he removed his paw from his forehead and used it to grab a deck of playing cards that was lying next to him on the roof. “Well then, how about this?” he said as he hurriedly shuffled the black queen of spades back into the deck.

Clearing his throat, he closed his eyes and drew one card from the top of the deck before opening his eyes again to look at it. “The red three of hearts— that’s my card,” he said to himself as he shuffled it back into the deck. As he shuffled, he furrowed his brow in concentration as he did his best to keep track of the card as it was mixed in with the others. He took a deep breath and fanned out the entire deck in one paw, hoping that the card he was looking for would be smack dab in the center. He focused his gaze on the card in the center, and gave the fanned-out cards a quick flick as he held them, causing the center card to pop up. A bead of sweat dropped down the side of his face, and his stare intensified as he grabbed the card with his free paw. _“This is it… This is the one!”_ he thought as he could feel confidence and conviction welling up inside of him.

“Now tell me… Is _this_ your card?!” he yelled dramatically as if he wasn’t just talking to himself while he held the card up and turned it over.

The Riolu’s eyes narrowed and his jaw dropped in disbelief once he saw what card it was. To his utter shock, it wasn’t the red three of hearts, but instead the black queen of spades! Although what he had just pulled off could be considered nothing less than the world’s greatest coincidence, the woman on the card still looked as nonplussed as ever. Her expression certainly didn’t help. After staring for a good long minute at the card in confusion with his frozen expression, the Riolu growled and began to noisily grind his sharp teeth.

“You… you… YOU’VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! What kinda joke is this?!” he shouted furiously while hints of indignant anger burned through the blue fur on his face. “I mean honestly! I couldn’t have done that even if I tried!” he seethed, closing his eyes as he shook his head in disbelief. He then opened his eyes and glared at the queen of spades, who was still blankly staring back at him. He brought the card closer to his face and squinted at it. “Okay, what’s your deal? Do you just enjoy mocking me?” he grumbled in annoyance. After having a staring contest with the card for a few more moments, the young Pokémon cracked a smirk and chuckled.

“Yeesh, trying to figure out this stupid card trick has been driving me crazy for the past few days,” he said. He sighed in defeat and shuffled the card back into the deck before swiftly tucking it away behind him. He put his hands behind his head and rested it against them as he relaxed on the rooftop. “It seemed simple enough when I saw that one guy do it, so I didn’t think it’d be that hard to pull off. Guess I was wrong…” he grumbled.

The young Riolu put his arms to the side and sat up on the rooftop, looking over the scene in front of him. From his perch atop the four-story building, he could see a fair bit of Zephyros, as well as the sparkling ocean just beyond. The smoke from the nearby chimneys didn’t block his view too much, thanks to the light breeze that was blowing in from the west. His eyes were filled with an opportunistic zeal as he saw the throngs of foreigners beginning to arrive from the docks before they poured into the town square and spread out from there.

“I need some new material. I can’t expect to keep fooling tourists with the same few tricks over and over again,” he mused as he scratched his cheek. He then looked behind him and towards the lush forest on the outskirts of town. He gazed at a silver spire that was poking out of the trees, sighing as he pinched one of the black appendages on the side of his face and lazily twirled it around like a lock of hair. “Not to mention _her_ Egg Day’s today, and I wanted to surprise her with a new trick.”

He turned his head back towards the town, propping it up with his paw as he closed his eyes. “Oh well, I’ll try it anyways and if I mess up again, at least I’ll have something else,” he added with a soft smile. “If anything, I just hope she doesn’t hate me after all this time…”

His eyes soon opened and his ears perked up as he began to hear the creaking of wooden wheels on the stone street below. He quickly crawled down the sloped roof face on his paws and knees and slowly peered over the edge. He saw a covered wooden cart drawn by a Mudsdale pulling up to the building, as a Bidoof promptly hopped off of the driver’s seat and waddled over to the storefront. Within moments a Sawk, a blue-skinned humanoid Pokémon with an overtly oval-shaped head came out to greet the pair of couriers. He was wearing a soil-stained white apron as well as a pair of thin, round spectacles. He looked quite pleased to see them, swinging his arms wide as a jovial smile spread across his ovular face. They shot the breeze for a bit as the Sawk florist signed for the crate, and once he was done the Bidoof and Mudsdale both nodded cordially towards him. They then made off as quickly as they had arrived, trundling down the street as the florist was left to inspect his shipment.

The Riolu watched with great interest from his rooftop perch as the Sawk hummed a simple tune to himself and pried open the wooden crate. Even from high up on the roof he could notice an elated spark within the florist’s eyes as he lifted the top off of the crate. Heavenly light and a chorus of angels might as well have been pouring out of the crate as what was inside was revealed to both the florist and his rooftop observer. Even the teen’s heart skipped a beat as he beheld what was inside.

“Gracideas~! Oh thank the heavens, they’re finally here~!” the old florist practically sang as he clasped his hands together and took a good look at the contents of the box. Inside was a carton of twelve stunningly gorgeous pink flowers with six petals and two dark green leaves each, all immaculately pruned and preserved.

 _“Well well! I guess that tip I got awhile back was correct!”_ the Riolu thought as a wide grin spread across his face. “That does it then. Those should be perfect!”

The young Pokémon wasted no time jumping to his feet and running over to the eastern side of the roof, taking a quick look down as he saw a gauntlet of numerous balconies beneath him. He jumped off the side of the building, landing on a metal balcony on the fourth floor, not that far below the roof. He then leaped over its railing and onto the next balcony on the third floor. He then turned and jumped off again, grabbing onto a nearby drainpipe as he slid down it in style. He was getting more and more excited by the second as he realized that a rare and beautiful Gracidea flower was almost in his grasp! He was so happy in fact, that he kept his eyes closed and leaped off of the drainpipe and onto the lowest balcony on the second floor, which was made of wood. His happy thoughts were immediately halted as he felt the wooden boards bowing underneath his weight, accompanied by a loud creak and a few violent snaps the moment his foot landed on the flimsy balcony.

He stood still for just a moment as the inevitable soon followed. “Shit…” he whimpered before the balcony collapsed and he plummeted two stories into the alleyway below, crashing into a pile of old wooden crates and metal garbage cans. In the aftermath, the stunned Riolu lay sprawled out on a pile of debris, bruised and dazed but thankful that none of his bones were broken. His fall made quite the terrible ruckus, inevitably drawing the attention of the flower-ogling Sawk just around the corner.

“What the hydrangeas?!” he gasped, looking towards the alley as dust and debris began to billow out from it. He was about to go over to investigate until the dizzy Riolu came stumbling out onto the sidewalk, covered in dust and bruises as he struggled to keep his balance. He held his head between his paws and let out a painful moan as he quickly shook his head, leaving his fluffy hair in an even worse state of disarray than it was before.

He stood upright and froze for a moment before looking over at the Sawk, who was inquisitively squinting at him through his glasses, his mind struggling to comprehend what he was seeing. The Riolu couldn’t help but blush just a bit through his blue-furred cheeks as he sheepishly smiled at the florist and put one hand to his hip while flipping the other back casually.

“Uh… Goooooood day, sir! Ow…” he greeted with the brightest grin he could muster. Internally, he was gutted that he had foolishly lost the element of surprise. Now that the Sawk knew of his presence, obtaining one of the flowers was going to be much more difficult than he had initially expected. However, he didn’t have much time left and he needed to get one as soon as possible. He would have to come up with a new plan, and fast.

“Good heavens, are you okay, kid?” the florist asked him, sounding both concerned and cautious.

The Riolu blinked his magenta eyes and he glanced over his shoulder and to his side as if to check if anyone else was around. “Huh? Who, me? Of course, never been better!”

“Do you need any help? Looks like you got a bit banged up back there.”

“No thanks, I’m fine! I really am!” 

“Hmm… Right then, I’ll believe you. I hear Riolu are pretty resilient folk anyway,” he said before leaning forward and taking a closer look at the Riolu. “By the way, what were you even doing in that alley? This is private property you know…” he asked him.

“Oh, nothing too terribly interesting! And not to worry, I have the utmost respect for private property!”

“Well, that’s good then! There’s a history of hooligans getting up to no good on this street, so I was a little worried when I saw you fooling around in the alley,” the Sawk laughed in relief.

“Yeah, don’t worry about me,” he replied as he walked closer and took a quick peek inside the open box. “Say, I couldn’t help but notice these flowers you’ve got here. They look amazing! What are they called?” he asked, acting as innocent as he could.

“Hmm? Oh those are what are called Gracidea flowers! They only grow in select regions of the world, and they’re highly sought after. You see, the species of Pokémon known as Shaymin are known to use these in order to change their form! Also, these flowers are said to represent gratitude and—,” the florist rambled, until he was interrupted by the Riolu.

“Hey, flower guy? Slow down there, I just wanted to know what they were called…” he said with a look of slight annoyance. 

“R-right, fair enough!” the Sawk chuckled sheepishly. “I apologize, its just that I’ve been passionate about flowers my entire life. You know, sometimes I wish I was hatched as a Grass-type!”

“Ummmm… Gotcha,” the Riolu replied while tilting his head to the side. _“Hmm… I wonder what kind of Pokémon he would be if he was actually like… hatched as a Grass-type,”_ he thought as visions of a green Sawk with a Gracidea flower growing out of his head came to mind. He shook his head and snapped back to reality as he saw the florist fawning over the flowers once again.

“I spent a good amount of Poké to get these shipped here in good condition, you know. They’ll be going on sale during the Springtide Festival, and I’m certain they’re going to be in high demand! Hehehe!” he chuckled as he tugged at the straps of his apron.

“I don’t doubt that for a second, flower guy! In fact, I have a high demand for one right now,” the Riolu replied as he took a step forward and began to reach towards the open crate.

However, he had to recoil his paw as the lid was slammed shut. He was surprised at the speed at which the geezer was able to cut him off, but in all honesty he didn’t blame him for being so protective of the rare flowers. He glowered at the young Riolu for a moment before clearing his throat. “Ahem. First of all, the title of my profession is ‘florist’, not ‘flower guy’… Secondly, these flowers aren’t on sale yet. As I said before, they’ll only be on sale during the festival. You’ll have to come back then if you want one,” he explained sternly as he reached down and pulled the crate closer towards him. “And thirdly, they also cost _money_ , my boy. I don’t happen to see any wallet on you so I gather you don’t even have the necessary funds. Unless you’re stashing coins where the sun doesn’t shine, but in that case I wouldn’t want them anyway.”

The Riolu simply chuckled and crossed his arms. “You got me, mister florist. It’s true; I don’t have a single Poké to my name right now…”

“Ah, I see. That’s quite unfortunate, but I’m sure there are ways you can remedy that! Like eh… getting a job, for instance,” the florist replied rather smarmily.

“Aw come on, that’s a total fogey thing to say! You’ve been in business for long enough in this town, you know how things are. I’m no stranger to business, work with me here! I’m sure we can cut some sort of deal,” the Riolu protested before giving the florist a sly wink and pointing a digit back and forth between them. “C’mon, one fighting-type to another!”

The Sawk only sighed and shook his head. “Kids these days… How about this then? You work in my shop from today until the first day of the Springtide Festival, and I’ll give you one Gracidea as payment. Does that sound fair?” he asked. The tone of his voice suggested that his patience was wearing thin.

The Riolu couldn’t deny that the deal wasn’t exactly a bad one, at least on the surface. However, he wasn’t keen on the idea of laboring for four whole days at the dumpy flower shop, not to mention with an anal-retentive flowermonger breathing down his neck and watching his every move. The very thought of it made his skin crawl beneath his fur. He was well aware that the florist was going to take full advantage of his desperation, and would most likely overwork him in order to make the most out of their deal. Personally, the Riolu just wasn’t willing to be chained down in any way, no matter what the results may be.

“Sorry, but I just can’t take that deal,” he grumbled as he folded his arms and looked away from the florist.

“Hmph. I guess that settles it then. They’ll be on sale during the festival if you want one.”

“But mister, I need one today! Like right now very soon today! Its for a very special someone…”

“Well tough luck kiddo. I run a business, not a charity! If you want one you can buy one or you can work for it. Your choice…”

Even as the florist began to turn away with the crate at his side, the Riolu stood firm. He was a self-admitted stubborn little bastard, and he wanted to make sure they did things his way. On the other hand, the Sawk believed that he was the one in control of the situation, and he wasn’t completely wrong in thinking so. Conventional wisdom would say that he was the one with all the cards, as he held an item of great importance to the Riolu, who in turn had nothing of equal or greater value he could exchange. It no doubt made him feel high and mighty, as evidenced by that subtle yet condescending smirk. He had seen that same pompous, know-it-all sneer from countless adults, probably thinking that they were better than him just because of their age and supposed morals. The bigger they felt, the bigger they’d fall. That was the way the Riolu liked things.

“Hold it!” the Riolu barked as he held his paw out, which successfully made the florist stop in his tracks.

“Oh? Have you reconsidered my offer already?” the Sawk chuckled as he turned around to face him again.

“Well, not exactly. I have a proposal of my own…” he told the Sawk as he reached behind his back. The older Pokémon wore a confused look on his face, which only deepened as the Riolu pulled out a full deck of playing cards from seemingly out of nowhere.

“Hrm? Where did you get those cards all of a sudden?” he asked as he pointed to the cards.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” the Riolu laughed nonchalantly. 

“So is this a magic trick or what? I don’t have the time for this, kid. Just make your decision and go,” the Sawk groaned as he scratched his head.

“Just hear me out. If I can truly impress you with one card trick, you let me have the Gracidea. How about that?” the Riolu explained, his voice sounding genuine enough. 

“Pfft! That’s seriously your plan?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he pondered the young Pokémon’s proposal. His cynical grimace quickly turned into a smirk and he chuckled in amusement. “Well if you’re confident that you can really wow me, then I say sure! Go for it! I’m telling you right now though; I’m expecting to be blown off my feet by your trick. Anything less and you’re not getting the flower,” he responded as he crossed his arms.

“Well well, looks like I’ve got a tough crowd today! You must be a fellow that likes his magic tricks…” the Riolu mused with a bright smile as he began to shuffle the deck.

The blue humanoid simply stood there with an expression so vacant he could pass for a Xatu.

“Well maybe not, but I’m sure you’ll like what I’ve got up my sleeves!” he said confidently.

“I don’t know. I think your approach might work better if you pulled out a wallet and some money with that trick instead…” the Sawk mumbled.

“Sheesh. Its all about money with you, isn’t it? What, have you forgotten how to have a little fun?” the Riolu sighed.

“Its how the world works, sonny. I’m sure you’ll understand eventually… when you grow up, that is,” the florist replied.

As he said those last few words, a vicious glint sparked in the Riolu’s eyes. He continued shuffling the cards until they were sufficiently mixed, and then presented the deck face-down in his left paw to the Sawk. “Now mister, I’m not saying you’re wrong about that, but… I honestly don’t care,” he stated casually, catching the older Pokémon off-guard. “The world can be however you want it to be. I prefer doing things my way,” he added with a sly smirk before nodding to the deck in his paw. “Now look alive and draw one card.”

The Sawk silently took a card from the top of the deck and looked at it. “It’s the—,” he started to say, but was cut off by the Riolu.

“Ah-ah-ah! Don’t tell me! Just memorize it and then place it back on the deck face-down,” he instructed. The Sawk did what he was told and placed the card back on the deck. The Riolu took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He pressed his middle digit onto the card as if he was trying to read which one it was simply through touch. He then began to shuffle the deck one more time before standing completely straight as he held the deck out with both paws. “Now, for the final step… concentrate on the deck. Whatever you do, don’t move your eyes off of the cards!” he said slowly. The Sawk did as he was asked, leaning in a bit as he concentrated on the deck. A few seconds ticked by in awkward silence, and nothing was happening.

Suddenly, the Riolu bent down and threw the entire deck into the air, causing a flurry of cards to flutter about and fall erratically all over the sidewalk. The Sawk was completely caught off guard by the sudden motion, and was so baffled that he was still trying to keep his eyes on the cards.

“H-Hey! What’s the big idea?! Why did you—?” he asked, but shut his mouth once he couldn’t see the Riolu anywhere. “Wh-where did you…?” he gasped as he frantically looked around for the other Pokémon, but he was nowhere to be seen. As he looked, his eyes drifted across the crate of Gracideas. His heart nearly leaped out of his chest as he realized that the crate’s lid had just been pried open! “Y-Y-YOU!” he seethed as he leaned over the crate and opened the lid. Sure enough, there was one Gracidea out of twelve missing. “YOU TWO-TIMING LITTLE PUNK! I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!” the Sawk hollered to the skies, shaking his fists in rage as cards were picked up in the breeze and whisked all over the sidewalk and street.

The Riolu was already on the next street over, running towards an open alley while clutching the Gracidea to his chest. He grinned wide as he ran, trying hard to contain his laughter as he made off with his prize. He occasionally looked over his shoulder to make sure that the florist hadn’t followed him, but he was sure that the old codger lacked the stamina to keep up with him anyway. He ducked into the alley and bent over with his paws on his knees, panting and chuckling to himself as he held the flower in his grasp.

He held up the Gracidea in his paw and took a closer look at it. There were few flowers in the world that held its unique beauty. _“I just know she’ll love it!”_

The Riolu lowered the flower and took a deep breath. He looked to the east and towards the top of the shining silver spire that rose from deep inside the island’s forest. His magenta eyes sparkled with happiness as he knew that he was about to visit someone he had been thinking a lot about lately and hadn’t seen in a long while. An errant gust of wind suddenly blew through the alley, whipping his fur as a single card from his abandoned deck found its way back to him and fluttered past him in the breeze, tumbling along through the air and into the distance…

_“Time for me to make things right!”_

_LiquidMadMan Presents…_

** Pokémon Mystery Dungeon – Wildcard **

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**End of Chapter 1…**

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**_Author’s Note #1: Don’t worry; they won’t always be this long…_ **

_Well, here it is… What the hell have I gotten myself into?_

_I thank each and every one of you that took the time out of your day to read to the end of this first chapter of my story. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it! If you did, awesome! Feel free to stick around because this is just the beginning! If you plan on checking out the story further, take a gander down below because I’ve got some information on stuff like the release schedule and length of chapters._

_Truth be told, I’m actually quite rusty when it comes to writing stories. I used to write random stories all the time and I even had a few uploaded on FanFiction.net before I deleted them a few years back. However, I’ve had the idea for this story in my head for the past four and a half years and after years of writing failed attempts and revising it over and over again, I finally have something to show for it._

_I enthusiastically welcome comments and reviews of all kinds, be they positive or negative. All I ask is for you to be polite and constructive in your criticism, and to refrain from spamming irrelevant content or harassing me to put out more chapters._

_Once again, thank you to everyone who gave my story a chance! Feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment, review, or even a PM if you’d prefer._

_For now, this is LiquidMadMan, signing off!_

**_Edit 2/1/2020:_ ** _Removed the intro spiel because I decided I don't like it._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Several hours had passed by the time the Riolu had left Zephyros, and the evening was fast approaching. A soft, salty breeze from the sea blew in over the island, rustling the trees of the dark and dense forest that covered its center. The boughs of the trees creaked and wavered gently as some leaves were torn from them and tumbled into the air. Some of these leaves crossed the Riolu’s path as he traversed the wooded route leading to the southern side of Zephyr Island. The young Pokémon clutched the ill-gotten Gracidea to his furry chest, keeping it close to him and away from the potential prying eyes of anyone he would meet while on the road.

He was now making his way through the edge of the forest, following the quiet dirt road. There were plenty of trees and rocks on either side of the path, slightly concealing the cliff-side and the beach beyond it on his right while they naturally blended into the forest on his left. He would sometimes pass by a quiet roadside farm, but the fields were mostly empty save for a scarecrow or two standing guard as their baggy clothes flapped in the breeze. Every now and then he’d spot a farmer tending to their fields, but they wouldn’t pay much mind to him.

Plain black crows seemed to be plentiful in the area, flocking together in the orange skies and huddling wing-to-wing in the branches of trees as they peered down at the Riolu while he passed by. The young fighting-type made sure to hold the Gracidea close, ready to shield it from any curious crows that decided to swoop down and try to nab it from him. He figured that to them, it might have looked like a bright, tasty treat. A lot of the time, it seemed as if the wildlife of the island was just as sticky-fingered as its more supposedly civilized inhabitants.

Runes were carved into some of the bigger rocks on the sides of the road. He could read some of them, but others were lost on him. As he traveled farther along the road, the rocks with carvings on them began to outnumber the ones without them; a sure sign that he was nearing his destination. The road then cut through the sides of several hills, with cracked and faded murals painted on stone sheets where they had been excavated, most of them depicting a wide variety of Pokémon wielding an ethereal blue and white energy. After traversing the road for a while, the Riolu came upon a familiar stand of tall and mighty spruce trees, and past their peaks he could see a great silver spire. He walked past the trees, and felt his heart swell as he took in a sight that instilled in him a bittersweet sense of nostalgia.

It was a great temple, constructed long ago from white marble and chiseled gray stone. It was built on three successive levels with three floors each, while a giant dome and silver spire topped it off. Unlike the spire, the rest of the temple had seemingly lost its luster, and was now worn and battered by years of exposure to Zephyr Island’s infamous winds. Vines and ivy grew rampant on the sides of the temple’s first level, going so far as to envelop many of its doors and windows.

Branching off from the central, round structure were several smaller extensions. Apart from them, there were other buildings each of varying size, giving the whole compound the appearance of a small village. The presence of a high stone wall encircling the temple and the other structures only added to this aesthetic. The wall had two gates; one connecting to the path the Riolu was traveling down, and one off to the side that faced towards a forested basin. There was a graveyard between the temple and the basin, filled with what seemed like hundreds of gravestones and quite a few mausoleums. Pokémon could be seen milling about the temple grounds, but they were too far away to make out exactly what species they were. The faint flickering of lamplight could be seen in almost all of the windows, with more firing up as the sun dipped further below the horizon. The activation of the lamps reminded the Riolu that he had important business there and that he would have to hurry if he wanted to get into the temple and do what he wanted to in time.

The Riolu had no delusion that he’d be able to get in through either of the two gates, or even over the wall without being spotted. He was hesitant about resorting to diplomacy, as he had a fairly strong hunch that the guards inside would at best let him in under strict terms only so he could grovel for forgiveness, or at worst simply tell him to get lost. If he made a dash for it and attracted the attention of the other guards inside, he would most likely have to fight his way through, and he knew for a fact that such an endeavor would end badly for him. The young fighting-type had no interest in futzing around for too long, as he was there for a very specific reason that only involved one Pokémon in particular. He looked down at the flower in his grasp once more, and a sly smirk appeared on his face. It looked like there was only one option left.

It was a good thing that he knew of a secret entrance.

* * *

The sun had all but completely disappeared below the horizon as night began to fall upon the island. Within the stained stone walls of the temple grounds, the Pokémon that inhabited them were preparing to turn in for the night. They walked back to their homes along paved paths and underneath the many trees that shaded the complex from the elements. Light from numerous windows and lamps cast a calm orange glow upon most of the grounds, complemented by the emerging silver radiance of the rising moon.

In a somewhat secluded corner of the temple grounds, there was an old well that no longer drew water. It was quaint and simple in construction, and had a rickety old canopy supported by two wooden poles with a disused bucket hanging from it. A minute or so later, a Riolu’s head suddenly poked out of it as his magenta eyes scanned his surroundings. The Gracidea was now tucked behind his ear, looking just as pristine as when he had first nabbed it that afternoon.

After he was sure that no one was watching him, he climbed out of the well and crept behind a long line of bushes that followed the curve of the stone wall bordering the temple grounds. He wasn’t that far from the temple itself with only a few buildings and walls between him and its ominous structure. He had his destination in mind, but he had to make sure he would arrive there unseen.

Arriving as dusk turned to night was most definitely a double-edged sword, as it gave him a bit more cover to sneak around but there was also a chance that the very person he came all the way there to see would have gone home that time. He sighed and looked up towards the domed building at the heart of the temple, wondering if he should just check her place right away instead of bothering with the other location he had in mind.

_“On second thought, no thanks. I’m not even gonna try to deal with the Sage if I don’t have to.”_

Even if he didn’t have to deal with the Sage, he would still have to contend with others that could imperil his mission. He was reminded of that fact as he saw another Riolu much like himself walking along a nearby path with a Pokémon that closely resembled his own species. He also resembled a jackal, and sported the same blue and black fur pattern that a Riolu would, only this other Pokémon was about twice his size. His torso was covered in cream-colored fur, and he had a steel spike sticking out from the center of his chest as well as from the backs of his paws. While Riolu had two appendages hanging off the sides of their faces, this Pokémon had four appendages hanging from the back of his head. He was a Lucario— the evolved form of Riolu. They both wore identical white scarves around their necks, which were embroidered with gray runes at their ends.

The Riolu in hiding needed no primer on their species as they weren’t so different from him. He was well aware of their ability to read and manipulate Aura in both combative and non-combative instances, and he didn’t particularly fancy being on the receiving end of any of their attacks. It was best that he didn’t tangle with one.

 _“Maybe they know where she is…”_ he thought as he hunkered down and perked up his ears so that he could listen in on their conversation better.

“I’m telling you, man. A couple of white-scarves like us don’t have anything to lose by trying out for the Guardians. It can’t hurt to explore our options,” the scarf-wearing Riolu said to his companion as they walked.

“I dunno, it just feels like it’d be the most boring job to do around here. All they do is guard gates and then sometimes go out into the forest to look for trouble. And guess what? They never find any!” the Lucario sighed.

“Who said there always has to be an imminent threat? I quite like peace and quiet! And there’s nothing wrong with simply protecting this place. It deserves to be protected!”

“Protect it from what? Just between you and me, I think they’d have to _make_ trouble so that they can justify their existence.”

“Aw come on, don’t say things like that. And what do you mean _from what_? This place was attacked by a _Darkrai_ not too long ago!”

“Not too long ago as in sixteen _long_ years ago? Yeah, I think the threat’s gone now!”

“You never know! It could be lurking right around that corner… Or in those bushes over there!” the scarf-wearing Riolu snickered.

“Very funny…” the Lucario groaned as they walked out of earshot.

The Riolu in the bushes stood up and stepped out from them once he was sure that they were gone. “Well that was a big help…” he snorted. His gaze shifted back towards the large central structure of the temple, more specifically at its second level. Dim yellow light was glowing from within the three stories of windows on the side of the second level’s circular edifice, which gave the Riolu a bit of hope. _“If I know her at all, she’s probably in there studying…”_ he thought. _“Its getting late though, I need to hurry!”_

* * *

“Hrgh… Almost there…”

Only a few minutes later, the Riolu was climbing up the side of the temple’s first level, which like the other two levels was three stories high. He had managed to sneak by a few patrolling Pokémon and maneuver his way around, above, and below the buildings and walls that stood in his way. Conveniently, the vines and ivy growing up the sides of the temple’s first level provided ample means to scale it with relatively little effort.

He clawed his way up the side of the structure using one vine at a time, switching between them by leaping from one to another depending on which had a better hold on the wall. He had climbed up walls using vines before, so he had a bit of experience with detecting which ones would hold his weight and those that wouldn’t. That being said, he wasn’t necessarily perfect at it. As he jumped from one vine, he latched onto another only to hear a soft snapping noise. In a split-second he was starting to fall as the vine became detached from the side of the building. “Shit!” he swore as he frantically reached out to grab another vine. He whipped back to the wall as he successfully grabbed onto a stronger vine, thudding hard against it as leaves rained down onto the ground about twenty feet below. Thankfully, it seemed like the vine he was holding onto was strong enough to support his weight, allowing him to let out a sigh of relief as he continued climbing.

He managed to make it up to the roof of the first level, which was sloped and covered in rickety old tiles. He crawled up the sloping roof until he reached the top, where he was able to access the windows of the second level. A light breeze blew through his fur and hair as he searched for any open or unlatched windows. It didn’t take long for him to find one, and once he did he took one more look around to make sure he wasn’t being watched. He slowly pulled it open, allowing moonlight to pour into the large, dimly lit room.

It was the temple’s library; thousands of tomes and scrolls stuffed into a two-story tall, fan-shaped chamber. There stood several towering bookcases arranged in rows on both floors, each of them filled to their frames with literature of all kinds. There were many tables and chairs on the lower floor, surrounding a large, ornate globe that displayed a map of the world. The window the Riolu had opened was on the second floor, which consisted mostly of a balcony that wrapped around the diameter of the room and a staircase leading to the lower floor. The chamber was decently illuminated by some oil-fired lamps that hung on the walls and from the ceiling, giving it a warm and somewhat cozy feeling. The air was musty and thick with dust, which sparkled in the beams of moonlight that streamed in from the opened window.

The Riolu was silhouetted in the pale light as he stood in the window frame, cautiously poking his head inside to take a look around. He jumped onto the balcony below and quietly closed the window before walking towards the railing of the balcony. The Riolu looked over the side to the bottom floor, but didn’t see anyone around. He would’ve believed that he was the only one in the entire library, if it wasn’t for the presence of a faint orange glow behind a bookcase on the other side of the room.

Wasting no time, he vaulted over the railing and landed on all fours, perking his ears up as he tried to listen for any voices or footsteps. _“Could that be her?”_ he wondered as he stood up and quietly made his way over to the other end of the room. He approached the bookcase and spotted some of the unknown glow shining from a gap between some of the books on the fourth shelf, so he took the opportunity to take a peek through it to see if there was anyone on the other side. He stealthily removed one more book to widen the gap, giving him a better view to work with.

Sure enough, he saw the shadowy figure of a Lucario standing by the next bookcase, illuminated by the faint orange glow of a candle they were holding as they also held an open book in their other paw. They were wearing a bright orange scarf around their neck, stitched with silver runes at both of its ends. _“Damn. Well its not her, but I might be able to ask them if they’ve seen her come by here,”_ he thought. _“If they don’t rat me out to the guards, that is.”_

The Lucario appeared to be female, judging by the slender curves of her torso and the width of her hips. The Riolu’s tail began to wag as he couldn’t help but notice how alluring her form looked in the dim glow of the candle. He couldn’t exactly see her face at the angle he was observing her from, but then again that wasn’t really the part of her he was most intrigued in at the moment. The Lucario then turned her back to him, shutting the book she was looking at before reaching up to place it on one of the higher shelves. She wasn’t exactly tall enough, so as she did this, she had to stand on the tips of her toes in order to reach it. Even then she appeared to be having a bit of trouble as she tried to push it back into place, her hips wiggling and swaying along with her tail. _“Oh sweet Arceus…”_ the Riolu gulped internally, his eyes growing large as he ogled her swishing backside. Unfortunately she dropped the book on the floor and grunted in annoyance before naturally bending over to pick it back up. The view that this simple action gave the young male caused his jaw to drop and his entire body to freeze up, leading to him dropping the book he held in his paw onto the tiled floor. The resulting thud that echoed throughout the library caused the Lucario to jolt upwards and look towards the direction of the noise.

However, the Riolu was no longer peering through the gap as the second the book hit the floor he immediately ducked and darted off to the side. Once he was near the other end of the bookcase, he stayed as still as a statue, gritting his teeth while his pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks. _“Way to go, dumbass! Well, that’s what I get for being a pervert, I guess…”_ he thought as he slowly stood back up and shook his head. _“That’s just great! Now she’s definitely gonna think I’m up to no good! At this point I should probably just bail out of here while I still can and get to the third level...”_

As the Riolu turned and walked alongside the bookcase to leave, he was stopped in his tracks as the Lucario he had been watching abruptly stepped out from the other side of the bookcase and bumped into him, knocking him to the ground. He grunted as he fell backwards on his rump and sat there dazed for a moment, but quickly gathered himself as he realized who he had just run into. An awkward silence hung in the air as his cheeks burned red, and he found that he couldn’t even bring himself to look up at her face regardless if she knew what he had just done. His mind instantly switched to con-mode as he tried to come up with an excuse as to why he was creeping around the library at this hour. He grinned and kept his eyes closed as he sheepishly began to rub the back of his neck.

“Uuuhhh… Heh heh… Hey there…” he chuckled nervously. “Sorry for bumping into you, I really should’ve paid more attention!”

The Lucario towering above him simply stood there in silence. The Riolu could feel the awkward tension rising, so he kept talking.

“R-right, um… I was sorta looking for someone; the Sage’s granddaughter, Lara. She comes in here a lot and I wanted to ask if you—,” he started to ask, but was silenced as the Lucario finally spoke.

“Eli?” she asked him softly.

As the Riolu heard her address him by name in that familiar voice, his eyes flew open as he slowly looked up at her. He recognized the messy, black tuft of hair that stuck out from the center of her forehead, as well as her black-tipped ears. He finally gazed into her sapphire-like eyes and saw within them the very Pokémon he had come to see.

“L-Lara?!” Eli stammered as he hastily stood up, completely baffled by his friend’s appearance. “W-what the… You… You…!”

“Evolved?” she replied, smiling as she proudly placed her paws on her hips.

“You got hot!” the Riolu exclaimed. That statement of his was almost instantly followed by a powerful blow to his gut, which sent him flying back towards one of the stone pillars holding up the balcony.

“Oh, Eli… Charming as always~,” she sighed after sending him flying. The Riolu slammed into the pillar with his back, eliciting a pained and astonished yelp before he dropped to the ground on his paws and knees. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m not entirely used to my own strength yet! In fact, I evolved just a few days ago~!” she snickered mischievously as she began to walk towards him.

“Ch… Cheap sh-shot! We’re n-not even in a battle!” he retorted as he shakily stood back up.

“Oh like you’re one to talk! I’d say you owe me _at least_ one because of how long you’ve been gone!” she huffed as she turned her nose up at him while reaching behind and brushing her four appendages as if they were long hair. “You really are a piece of work, Eli— making a girl wait an entire month for her chance to whoop your cute, stupid butt! We trained for weeks and you were finally getting the hang of battling! Then you just up and leave, completely blowing off our big match like it was nothing!”

“I uh, r-really thought you’d be happier to see me back,” the Riolu squeaked, trying to change the subject as he anxiously watched her approach.

“Oh, I’m as happy as a girl could be~! I just have a different way of showing it!” Lara beamed as she closed the distance between them. “I’ve got you right where I want you. What exactly did you expect~?” she giggled as she batted her bright blue eyes at the shorter male.

“Heh heh… Um… A hug? A tearful reunion? You not killing me?” he whimpered as she menacingly towered over him.

She waved one of her digits and winked at him playfully. “Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! You really let your guard down because of my new look, huh? You should’ve known we had unfinished business~,” she chided him. “The way you failed to take my punch tells me you haven’t been keeping up with your training. Even though I’m evolved now, I’m sure you could’ve fared better against my opening strike if you had just braced yourself properly.”

“Wait, you were just using your natural strength? You weren’t using Aura… like at all?” Eli gulped.

“Of course I wasn’t. I’m still learning how to properly harness it! Don’t tell me you’ve gone soft…”

“G-gone _what_?”

“Soft,” she reiterated.

“Soft… Oh, R-right! I see what you’re saying!”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean, n-no idea! I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about!” Eli exclaimed, his face burning red as he attempted to look away.

“You know, on second thought I don’t think I want to fight you anymore… At least not in the state you’re in! Maybe when you’ve evolved and caught up on your training we can have our battle,” she scoffed begrudgingly as she shook her head and glared at him.

Eli let out a long sigh of relief and nearly collapsed back to the floor as his friend seemed to show him an undue mercy. “Ha! Well thanks for that… To be honest I thought I was gonna die...” he croaked.

“Yeah whatever, jerk. Just remember to think twice before you go and make everyone worry about you…”

“L-look… Lara, I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly. It’s just… I dunno, I’d been thinking about a lot of stuff and I felt like I had to do something about it,” the Riolu explained as his ears began to droop. He then looked her in the eye and spoke with an adamant tone. “I know you know what I’m talking about.”

Lara simply nodded back, still seeming somewhat miffed at him. “I think I might. But honestly, Eli! Where have you been? What the heck have you been doing all this time?”

“I know. I really do owe you an explanation. But listen, I don’t wanna get caught up in all of that right now. We can talk about that stuff later,” he told her.

His last statement caused the Lucario’s ears to perk up. “Hm? Later? So… You’re back?” she asked him.

“Well uh, I’m not exactly back for good. You see, I really only came back to see one Pokémon in particular,” he murmured with a little smile.

As she saw him smile, Lara couldn’t help but smile back. “Who? Gramps?” she giggled.

“Yeah right. I snuck in here specifically to _avoid_ talking to him,” he snickered.

“What? How did you sneak in?”

“Through that busted wall in the cave near the cliffs! You know the one that leads to the well?”

“Oh, right! The one we found all those years ago,” she remarked. “Is it still as dingy and gross down there as it was back then?”

“You would hate it! There were tons of rats and bugs down there… Not to mention your butt’s probably too big to fit through the hole now anyway,” he teased.

“Actually, you know what? I’ve changed my mind— I’m just gonna kick your ass right now,” she groaned as she got into a fighting stance and reared back, ready to punch his lights out again.

“Wait wait wait! Peace offering!” Eli shouted, wincing and defensively holding up a paw in front of him before reaching behind his ear and pulling out the Gracidea, presenting it to her with a flourish. The Lucario eyed the pink flower for a moment as she stood there, her paw still poised to strike.

“Wait… Is that what I think it is?” she asked, looking intrigued.

“It’s a Gracidea!” Eli said, proudly holding it out for her. “I got it just for you… Happy Egg Day!”

Her expression instantly flipped from mild curiosity to an elated, beaming grin as her cheeks glowed pink. “Are you for real?! I’ve never seen one before! Thank you so much, Eli~!” she squealed with delight as she took the flower from his paw, admiring it with starry eyes as she gently held it. “I didn’t even notice you had this on your head! I was just so surprised to see you back. I’ll be sure to take great care of it!” 

“So does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore?”

“Nope~!” she replied as she sniffed the flower.

“Oh…”

“Though I’ll admit, it helps a little~!”

“Oh!”

“But really, thank you! That’s very sweet of you~,” she said before clutching it to her chest. “Though I’m curious— where exactly did you find one?”

Eli blushed lightly as he saw how happy his gift had made her and began to sheepishly rub the back of his neck. “In Zephyros; they were selling them for the Springtide Festival. Let’s just say I had to trade my entire deck of cards for it,” he answered shiftily.

“Wow, really? You know, you didn’t have to give them up just for me.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” the Riolu shrugged. “I had a feeling they were cursed anyway.”

“Oh, so that’s why you keep failing those magic tricks you like showing me~,” Lara teased as she daintily tucked the Gracidea behind her ear.

“Suuuuure, let’s go with that…” Eli murmured. He then put his paws together and took a deep breath before letting it out. “Speaking of the festival, I had something I wanted to ask you…”

She perked up and crossed her arms as she gave him a knowing look. “And what might that be~?”

“Well, I really wanted to spend some time with you. Just you and me,” Eli began, making her cheeks glow a light pink. “And well, I wanted to do something special for you since I… you know, messed up a bit,” he continued as she nodded back to him. “On top of that, I can’t really stay here for long right now, and I have some important things I wanna talk to you about. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything later,” he said as he grabbed her paws and held them in his own, causing her to blush even brighter. “What I’m trying to ask is… Lara… Will you…” he began, but stopped himself as he noticed something. “Uh, this is going a bit differently than it did in my head. It must be because I’m shorter than you now… Hold on a sec!”

He let go of Lara’s paws and walked over to a nearby table, returning as he pushed one of the chairs up to her. He then hopped up on the chair and grabbed her paws again before clearing his throat, making her giggle. “Let’s try this again. Lara… Will you go to the festival with me?” he asked earnestly, his eyes locking with hers.

Lara cracked a huge smile, blushing as she shook her head. “Okay, first of all, that was way too dramatic,” she laughed. Eli stood there with bated breath, giving her a nod as he implored her to continue on and give her final answer. “And secondly, yes… I’ll go with yo—,” she began to say, but was cut off as Eli pulled her into an impromptu hug.

“Thanks, Lara… You’re the absolute best! I really mean it! I’m gonna show you the best time ever at the festival!” the little Riolu began to sob. She was a bit caught off guard with how emotional he became, but she couldn’t really blame him because despite the stupid decisions he made sometimes, she knew that he truly cared for her. She would admit that in a way, her anger at him running off without giving her a proper fight was her way of showing that she cared about him in the same way.

She suddenly felt something wet drip onto her shoulder. “Are… Are you crying?” she asked, chuckling lightly.

“SHUT UP YOU’RE LIKE MY BEST FRIEND, OKAY?!” he blurted out as his voice cracked, making her laugh even more. He pulled back from the hug and gazed at her with teary eyes as the Lucario reached up and wiped some of them away. “Y-you really said yes even after all I’ve done to you… Sometimes I think I don’t deserve you as a friend at all…”

“You know, you’re awfully cute when you grovel~,” she giggled.

“What? I’m just happy to have you as a friend!” the Riolu sniffled as cheeks turned even redder.

“Hmm, you’ve been saying _friend_ an awful lot…” 

“W-well I don’t wanna overplay my hand, y’know?” Eli laughed nervously. “I-I’m not the kinda guy to assume things.”

“Oh, will you just cut the crap already~?” she sighed as she pulled the Riolu closer to her and pressed her snout against his’. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not assuming _anything_ ~.”

The young male was caught off guard as his friend suddenly pushed the flirtatious undertones aside for something more… direct. She had smashed her nose against his’ and was staring straight at him with those beautiful, half-lidded eyes. His eyes were as big as they could be and his heart was beating like a pounding drum. _“Oh Arceus, is this really happening?!”_ his mind screamed as the Lucario’s eyes began to close and her lips parted. _“Okay, okay, keep it cool! Get a hold of yourself! This is your first kiss, so make it count!”_ he thought frantically. He smiled back at her and gulped, slowly closing his eyes as well before puckering his lips. They both gently leaned their faces towards each other, lips only inches away from touching.

Suddenly, their eyes flew open as they heard a loud click echo throughout the library, causing them to freeze just seconds before their lips met. The large door of the library creaked as it swung open. They both exchanged panicked looks before Eli hopped off the chair and ducked behind a bookcase, while Lara hurried over to the same bookcase and grabbed a random book off one of the shelves. She opened it up and pretended to read it as footsteps could be heard coming in from the hallway outside.

An adult male Lucario wearing a blue, white and black, short-sleeved tunic entered the room. He had a striking presence and was quite tall even for a Lucario. His expression was steely as his emerald green eyes rapidly scanned the room from the moment he stepped inside, focused solely on reading his surroundings. The tunic he was wearing stretched down to his thighs, its hems embroidered with silver runes similar to the scarves that many other denizens of the temple wore. He also wore light shoulder armor fashioned from blue-dyed leather, with white runes engraved along their edges. Four long, white tassels were tied around the bases of the four appendages on the back of his head, which dangled down to just below his neck.

The Lucario turned his attention to the younger female and took a few steps towards her before stopping and crossing his arms. 

“Lara. You still studying?” he observed succinctly.

“Yeah…” the female Lucario responded casually.

“Well that’s good. Your grandfather will be happy about that,” he said as he gave an approving smile. “Don’t mind me, then. I was just making some of the rounds myself since most of my Guardians are out patrolling the woods. Try not to stay up too late, okay?”

“R-right. Have a good night, Viggo!” she replied, turning back to him with a smile of her own.

“You too, Lara,” the Lucario nodded to her before turning to leave. After taking a few steps towards the door, he suddenly stopped and looked back at her. “Oh, and there was just one more thing I was curious about. Where’d you get that Gracidea?” he asked. “I hear they’re pretty rare.”

“O-oh, um… In town,” she replied hastily as she looked back to her book.

“You mean in Zephyros? When did you have time to go there?” he pressed her.

“Well, I didn’t exactly go and get it myself…”

“Hmm. Might the explanation be that someone _else_ brought it to you?” he asked.

“Mmhh…”

The Lucario chuckled and shook his head as Lara stood there, her face growing red under her fur. “Alright Eli, come out,” he sighed. “Don’t even bother hiding. I know you’re there!”

A few moments passed as complete silence hung over the library, only for it to be broken as Eli poked his head out from behind the bookcase and glared daggers at Viggo. “Way to ruin the moment, big guy!” he griped as he came back out into the open.

“Well hello to you too,” the Lucario murmured.

“Let me guess… You saw my Aura, right?” Eli grumbled.

“Yep, through the wall, and I could hear you two talking from out in the hallway as well.”

“Ugh… What a show-off!” he huffed, crossing his arms indignantly.

Viggo raised an eyebrow and looked at Lara, who merely shrugged. He then turned his attention to the pouting Riolu. “Sorry for ruining your two’s little uh… _thing_ , but I can’t really have you on the premises if you’re just going to sneak around and avoid talking with you-know-who.”

“Well if he wants to see me so bad, he can come down here and talk to me himself!” the Riolu protested as he turned his nose up.

“The Sage went to bed not too long ago, so there’s that. However, I won’t force you to deal with him if you don’t want to. If that’s the case, I’ll just escort you out and we’ll act like this never happened,” Viggo explained coolly. “Sound fair?”

After hearing the Lucario’s offer, Eli looked over to Lara for support. She nodded in Viggo’s direction, as if to let him know that the Lucario was doing him a favor. The stubborn Riolu rolled his eyes and sighed as he started to walk towards Viggo. “Fine, let’s go…” he grumbled to him.

“Good choice,” Viggo remarked with a smirk as he waved goodbye to Lara. “Take care, Lara! See you tomorrow for some more training.”

“Sure thing. Goodnight, Viggo… And you too, Eli!” she replied as he and Eli began to walk towards the door.

Eli then stopped walking and turned back to her. “I’ll meet you in Windfall Square on the first day of the festival!” he yelled to her, grinning wide.

Lara giggled and smiled flirtatiously as she waved to him. “Sounds great! I’ll see you then~!” she replied.

The Riolu shot her a quick wink, making her blush softly before turning around and walking through the door with Viggo. Once the library door was closed, they began to walk down the long, drafty hallways of the temple. They walked in silence for a bit, the only noises being their footsteps as the air between the two males was a bit tense. That was, until Viggo decided to break the silence.

“Sheesh! Took you long enough to ask her out…” he chuckled.

* * *

The moon was shining bright in the starry sky by the time the Riolu and Lucario walked out of the temple itself and into the northern part of the grounds. It was a straight walk down a wide cobblestone path from the front steps of the temple to the northern gate, with numerous dormitories and gardens lining the route. Luckily, most of the inhabitants of the temple grounds had retired to their dormitories, so they didn’t make much of a scene as they made their way towards the gate.

The only ones that seemed to be out were a few guards here and there, mostly Lucario. There were also some other species mixed in among their ranks, like Poliwrath— bulky, blue-skinned amphibians with white stomachs that featured a black swirl on them, and Manectric— quadrupedal, electric-type canines with jagged blue and yellow fur. The bipedal Pokémon wore tunics similar to Viggo’s while the quadrupeds wore simpler vests that, while more fitting for their bodies, still made it clear that they all shared an affiliation with each other. They all stood near burning braziers, their stern features only sporadically illuminated by the flickering fire. Some of them gave Eli and Viggo strange looks, but after a preemptive nod from the Lucario they would stand down without a single objection.

The pale, weathered wall separating the temple and its grounds from the world beyond was near, as was the northern gate. Once Eli and Viggo were sure they were out of earshot of any guards, they continued their hushed conversation.

“So, you’re really not going to tell the Sage about… me and Lara?” Eli asked with a hint of apprehension.

“Unless she wants to tell him herself, no,” Viggo answered. “Besides, it’s just a date, right? It’s not like you two decided to be mates forever or anything…”

“Y-yeah, of course!” Eli chuckled anxiously, before his face hardened slightly. “But seriously, I didn’t come back here just to ask her on a date and tell her Happy Egg-Day. I came back to make things right with her.”

The Lucario gave the young male a sideways glance. “Really, now? How so?”

“It’s just…” he started to say, but fell silent for a few moments. “I don’t wanna say. I haven’t told her or anyone else what I’m planning,” he finally said, causing Viggo’s ears to perk up. He immediately stopped walking, and so did Eli.

“What you’re _planning_?” Viggo asked slowly as he turned his head back to the Riolu. “Eli… I swear to Arceus if you’re thinking about pulling some hare-brained stunt, I’m going to—,” he began, but was cut off by Eli.

“No! It’s nothing like what you think!” he argued. “It only concerns me, no one else. Its something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and I just don’t think I could live with myself if I end up never doing anything about it.”

“So let me guess. That’s what the whole debacle you had with the Sage before you ran off was about?” Viggo asked, raising an eyebrow. His hunch was confirmed as Eli solemnly nodded. “Might I ask what exactly it is that’s been eating you?”

Eli sighed and shook his head. “I’ve been trying to keep it a secret. Lara knows a little about it already, but not what I’m planning to do about it. You have to understand, Viggo. Its something I can’t exactly wrap my head around, but at the same time its something I feel like I have to deal with for my own sake. I could put it off for as long as I want, but it would just eat away at me if I did that. I can’t live the way I want to if its hanging over my head all the time,” he explained. “But even then… The Sage knows. I know he does. I could feel it when I was arguing with him that day,” he continued, catching Viggo by surprise.

“Are you sure he knows? I mean, I haven’t heard anything about it from him at all.”

“I’m positive,” Eli responded. “That’s why he was so angry with me.”

Viggo stood there in silence for a few moments, contemplating what Eli had just divulged to him. _“It must be something major if even the Sage isn’t telling anyone about it…”_ he thought. “Fair enough. If you don’t want to tell me right now then we can just talk about it another time,” the Lucario sighed as he started to walk again. “But remember, if you try to do anything stupid or dangerous then I’m going to be the first one you answer to.”

“Right, right…” Eli murmured as he walked alongside Viggo.

“And seriously, you need to consider making up with the Sage soon.”

They walked up to the stone arch of the northern gate, where a gatekeeper— a rather gruff-looking Lucario in a white cloak, was standing guard next to a burning torch. Viggo motioned to the guard, who nodded back to him and unlocked the iron gate, holding it open for the two of them as they slipped through. Once they were outside the gate, it clanked shut behind them.

Eli looked out onto the moonlit plateau from underneath the shadowy, stone canopy of the gate tucked inside the wall, and saw that they were now standing in front of the old graveyard between the temple grounds and the forested basin. A gray, brick road ran from the gate and through the center of the graveyard until it disappeared into the dark woods beyond. On both sides of the road stood hundreds of gravestones and numerous mausoleums made of wood, stone, and marble.

“Hey wait, why are we going out this way? It’d be easier for me to get back to Zephyros if we went out the western gate,” Eli told the Lucario.

“Well, since you came back, I was thinking you might want to pay _her_ a visit,” Viggo replied prudently before looking over to the Riolu. “Do you?”

“Oh… Y-yeah, I want to…” Eli murmured softly.

They made their way down the faded brick road in silence, with nothing but the low whistle of the soft breeze and the chirping of crickets in the distance passing by their ears. The sharp shadows cast by the hundreds of gravestones under the moon gave the area a solemn yet serene atmosphere, as was appropriate for a place of mourning and memorial. Once they were near the center of the graveyard, they turned down a smaller path that led deeper into the field of gravestones and towards a large, round mausoleum built from dark marble. It was raised slightly off the ground and had a white, domed roof held aloft by large, marble pillars. As they drew closer to the building, a soft blue glow could be seen emanating from inside.

They walked up the short series of steps that led into the mausoleum, and once they entered they were greeted by a hauntingly beautiful sight. The building’s single room was illuminated almost exclusively by a collection of glass orbs that were hanging from the ceiling in the back of the room. Within each orb was what appeared to be a small, blue flame, burning bright as a star and giving off an ethereal glow. They were all individually suspended from the ceiling at the end of a string, each one different in length. This array of glowing orbs hung behind a shrine of sorts, consisting of multi-tiered tables covered with offerings of flowers and bags of what the Riolu assumed was food.

Near the center of the shrine was a simple wooden box, flanked by two modest candles that had burned nearly to the base. As Eli’s eyes fell upon the box, a lump got caught in his throat and he felt his heart beating faster than before. His paw clenched and his entire body tensed up as he was reminded of a certain fateful event— one that ensured he would regularly return to that very same mausoleum years after.

Although the display of glowing, glass orbs would attract anyone’s eye as they walked in, that didn’t mean that the center of the room was devoid of interest. A peculiar Pokémon was floating a few feet off the ground in a cross-legged, sitting position in the center of the room, meditating silently as a light blue aura surrounded him. He was a Medicham, a psychic-type, slightly-humanoid Pokémon with gray skin and a thin body. In comparison with the rest of his body his legs were quite thick and bulbous, as they were red and resembled pants of some kind. He had two long, skinny arms and an oblong head with what appeared to be a red headpiece with three appendages; one on the top of his head and two on either side of his face. His currently-closed eyes were perfectly round, and his lips were large and red. He wore a simple black cloak that draped onto the floor behind him, and he also had a large, golden necklace with different-colored gems hanging on it.

Eli and Viggo walked closer towards the Medicham, just as one of his eyes flew open and stared at them. “Good evening, Captain Viggo,” he murmured smoothly to the Lucario. “And you too, young Eli,” he added as he looked at the Riolu.

 _“Welcome back…”_ his telepathic voice echoed throughout Eli’s mind, making him wince a bit.

“Good evening, Miron,” Viggo cordially greeted back. “We’re here to see Audrey and pay our respects.”

“Of course,” the Medicham responded as the blue glow around him disappeared and he effortlessly transitioned from floating to standing on the ground. “Right this way.”

The three made their way to the shrine in front of the display of glowing orbs as Miron stood on its left side. He closed his eyes and raised his hands into the air as white, shimmering particles began to emanate from them. Almost immediately, one of the glass orbs began to glow white as well. Eli and Viggo looked to the orb as the flame within it burned a bright blue and white.

“There she is…” Viggo whispered. He closed his eyes as well, lowering his head as the appendages on the back of it started to levitate and vibrate. Eli stood by and alternated between staring at the orb containing his old friend’s last remaining fragment of life force and at Viggo as he began to read it along with Miron.

“I feel that she is… Happy… In the presence of you two,” Miron relayed, concentrating hard on reading the faint emotions being expressed by the last remaining piece of Audrey’s life force. His reading brought a smile to Eli and Viggo’s faces, and they felt a comforting warmth enveloping their hearts.

“I can feel that as well,” the Lucario said.

“However…” the Medicham added ominously. “I can also sense… Regret. Yes, _regret_ as well…” he said, bringing the mood of the reading down a little. “Especially because of _your_ presence, Eli…” The Riolu felt the warmth around his heart rapidly chill as it was replaced with an icy pang of sadness.

“Yes… Unfortunately…” Viggo replied as he opened his eyes and his appendages reverted to their natural state.

Miron slowly shook his head as the white particles around his hands began to fade, as did the white glow within the glass orb that held Audrey’s Aura. “I cannot say exactly why… It seems to be ingrained in her very soul,” he observed. “So strong in fact, that it stayed with her even after her death…”

Eli fidgeted uncomfortably as he stood next to Viggo, staring up at the orb as his ears began to droop. “Well, she regretted many things in her life. I think we all know that. Still though, its unfortunate that those regrets were so powerful that they’re still lingering even after she died…” the Lucario commented as Miron nodded in agreement.

“Yeah… We all know what she regretted…” Eli said suddenly, causing the two adults to turn towards him.

Viggo shot him a stern glare. “Eli… We’ve been over this. What happened wasn’t your fault,” he told him firmly. “Both of us were there when she passed on, she said she didn’t blame you.”

“It’s not about what she said, it’s about what she felt,” the Riolu growled back. “I can’t read Aura, but I can sure as hell read what someone is feeling. If I wasn’t so selfish, I…” he started, but was stopped when Viggo placed his paws on his shoulders.

“None of us wanted to lose you that day, Eli. Sure, you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes. Sure, we might’ve never seen eye-to-eye on absolutely everything. But believe me when I say that I would’ve gladly given my life for you to live on as well! Do you know why? Its because…” he began, pausing as he took a deep breath. “It’s because you’re family, Eli! If she truly cared more about surviving than keeping you safe, she would’ve never gone after you! Everyone here at the temple, we’re all one big family. Not because of blood, but because of how much we care for each other and believe in a common cause! That’s why she saved you! That’s why everyone else freaks out when you act detached and then leave for a whole month! Do you understand?!” Viggo explained passionately.

“You’re not my family, though,” Eli sighed as Viggo’s grip on his shoulders loosened. “You’re my friend, but you’re not my family. I was dumped on this island because my parents never wanted me. Its obvious, you can say it. All I’ve ever been is a burden to everyone. That’s all there is to it. You, the Sage, Lara, and especially Audrey. Because you guys insist on making me one of you, all I do is disappoint you. I couldn’t be an Auracle like the Sage wanted me to be. I couldn’t honor Lara’s skills in battle. My actions caused Audrey to get killed. I can’t even function in this fucking place anymore. I feel like a wild animal locked in a cage! All I see when I’m here is a place I can never fit in because I’m too damn selfish and I can’t help it. That’s why I left!” he seethed, gritting his teeth as he looked away from Viggo.

“Come on… That’s not really what you think,” Viggo countered.

“Oh yes it is! I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately!” Eli shot back. “There was no reason Audrey should’ve died because of me. She wanted nothing to do with me. I annoyed her day in and day out because I wanted to know more about my Dad who never even cared about me in the first place! The only reason she went after me was because she felt bad after I couldn’t accept her feelings. If she was selfish just like me, she could’ve been alive today. And guess what? She deserved to live more than me— by a long-shot!” he yelled as Viggo bared his teeth.

The Lucario suddenly grabbed him by the fur on his chest, lifting him up into the air until he was staring at him eye-to-eye. “You ignorant, ungrateful little… After all we’ve done for you… After all we’ve forgiven you for… You still have the absolute _nerve_ to doubt Audrey’s sacrifice she made for you?” he hissed, his eyes burning with anger as the Riolu glared right back at him, not saying a word.

“Let me go,” Eli grunted as he hung limply in his grip. His simple order seemed to do the trick, as Viggo wasted no time in dropping him to the floor. The Riolu landed on his back as the wind was knocked out of him, groaning a bit before sitting up and glaring at the irate Lucario.

“You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Take it back,” Viggo ordered bitterly.

Eli sat there for a moment with a paw on his knee, before sighing and slowly standing back up. “I need some fresh air,” the Riolu curtly responded, dusting himself off before turning away and walking towards the door.

“I said—,” Viggo spat, but was cut off by Miron.

“Captain! Breathe deep, seek peace! We should just let him go. He obviously wants to be alone right now,” the Medicham observed.

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me twice!” the Lucario grumbled as he scratched his head. “Oh and by the way, I’m totally telling the Sage about you and Lara now!” he yelled after Eli as he left the mausoleum.

Miron brought a digit to his chin and let out a snort of surprise. “Oh, do tell. What about those two?” he asked innocently.

“He finally asked her out. Big deal, right? But at the same time you just know that the old Sage is gonna go into conniptions once he finds out.”

“Ah, I see now. Good for them, I suppose,” Miron replied bluntly.

“ _Good for them?_ Whose side are you on, anyway?” Viggo scoffed.

“Why, the side that creates the most drama, of course!” the Medicham laughed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Eli was back outside walking down the path leading from the mausoleum, his arms folded as he kicked at any pebbles he came across in an attempt to vent some of his anger. His thoughts were racing like a hurricane inside his head, constantly flipping from one extreme to the other. He felt anger, guilt, grief, curiosity, and lust welling up inside him all at the same time. He couldn’t reconcile any of the wildly varying thoughts he had swimming around in his fuzzy little noggin to save his life! It felt as if every bit of emotional baggage he had accumulated over the course of his short life was being dropped on his back all at once that day. His life so far on the island had been a complicated one to say the least. He definitely hadn’t expected a simple visit to Audrey’s mausoleum to turn so emotional and volatile.

His thoughts turned to Viggo— once merely an authority figure to him and many other youngsters, the gruff and proud Lucario quickly established himself as a sort of “big brother” to those who otherwise didn’t have one, including Eli himself as well as Lara. Even after he became Captain of the Auracle Guardian, that didn’t change things between them. They had butted heads over many things on more than one occasion, but what had just happened between them felt much different. The Riolu could tell that he had truly, perhaps _deeply_ offended Viggo with what he had said in the mausoleum. Viggo had idolized Audrey just as much, if not more than Eli ever had, and her tragic death six years prior took a toll on him as well as everyone at the temple. Eli had always felt like he was to blame for Audrey’s death, but rather than confirm his blame, Viggo always insisted on absolving Eli of any of it. It was so agonizingly patronizing! He figured it was just because he didn’t want him to feel bad, but given his sincere tone and the sheer conviction he saw in him back there, he was beginning to wonder if he actually had a point.

“Ugh. Maybe I’m still going through puberty…” he groaned.

Now that he was back out in the cool night air, he felt his conscience flowing freely once again. His mind wandered back to Lara and how happy she was when he gave her the Gracidea for her Egg-Day. His cheeks glowed a soft red as he started to think about all of the fun they could have on their date in a few days. Just the thought of her smile was starting to bring him back to his old, playful self. It wasn’t that late after all, he could take his time going back to town!

His inquisitive eyes scanned the graveyard, looking for anything of interest out there in the dead of night. Soon enough, he spotted a glass bottle of some kind sitting atop a large tombstone a few rows over. He walked up to the tombstone and grabbed the bottle, which turned out to be bigger than he expected. There was no cap or cork, and it appeared to be empty. He looked down its opening and sure enough, it was completely empty. “What was this stuff anyway?” he muttered to himself as he sniffed the opening. He recoiled a bit in disgust as his snout was filled with the burning, residual scent of alcohol. “Yuck! Must’ve been whiskey or something…” he groaned. He looked at the gravestone and chuckled. “Mind if I wet my whistle?” he asked jokingly. He then leaned down and brushed some of the dirt and dust off of it with his paw until he could see the name.

“Hmph. Taron Lightfoot, huh? Died… Yeesh, fifty-three years ago,” he observed. “Oh, what the hell… To you, Taron Lightfoot!” He held the bottle to his lips and tilted his head back, pretending to drink from it. “Ah! Now that’s the stuff!” he chuckled as he wiped his face. He lightly tapped the bottle against the tombstone a few times before letting out a big sigh.

“Wow! Did _not_ expect today to be so emotional…” he said as he leaned against the large tombstone. “I really should’ve just kept my big mouth shut.”

"Sssssyaaa..."

The Riolu’s ears perked up and his eyes widened as he heard an unfamiliar voice on the wind. He began to think that it was just his imagination, but he soon heard it again.

"Ssyaaaa..."

A shiver traveled down his spine as all of the fur on his body stood on end. “Is someone there?” he asked timidly.

"Sssssyrraaa..."

It sounded like it was getting closer. He ducked behind the tombstone, clutching the bottle to his chest. His heart began to beat faster and faster and he started to shake as he frantically looked around, unsure of where the strange voice was coming from.

"Ssssssssss..."

“Lightfoot? Is that you?” Eli whispered. “If it is, I’m sorry about taking your booze! I don’t even drink!”

Just then out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow moving around on a few nearby tombstones. He sat there frozen with fear, unable to decipher exactly what its shape was. He then started to pick up on a light shuffling noise that was coming from the direction of the graveyard’s main path. Eli quickly scrambled to his feet and poked his head out from behind the tombstone, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The young Riolu was shaking like a leaf, eyes wide as saucers as he tried to figure out what was making the strange noises.

Then, all of a sudden, the shuffling stopped.

Eli stopped breathing for a moment and perked one ear up as far as it could go. After listening for a minute or so and hearing nothing, he lowered his ear and stepped out towards the main path.

 _“What the hell was that about? Some kind of spirit?”_ he thought. _“Its really too bad I can’t read Aura, or else I could see who or what that was.”_ He walked onto the brick road, the glass bottle still in his paw as he casually swung it back and forth at his side. It seemed as if whatever the strange anomaly was had left, leaving Eli alone once again with nothing but the wind and his own musings.

"Sssssyrraaa..." 

Or so he thought. The Riolu let out a frightened yelp and froze in place as he heard the haunting voice call out once again. Only this time, it sounded far closer than before. He could see a shadow stretching up the road before him, meaning that whatever was casting it was now behind him. Eli turned the bottle he was holding upside down and shook it, just to make sure there actually wasn’t anything in it and that he wasn’t under the influence. While not a single drop fell out of the bottle, his stomach felt like it was dropping into his feet.

 _“Okay, Eli. Don’t turn around. You hear me? Don’t turn around. Don’t turn around. Don’t turn…”_ he shouted internally, only for his curiosity to overpower him. He slowly turned around, and was horrified at what he saw— a nightmare he had hoped he would never have to face again. The bottle fell from his grasp, shattering across the bricks below.

“N-no…”

Standing tall and hunched against the pale light of the moon was a pitch-black, plasma-like mass that had a vaguely humanoid shape. A thin black smoke appeared to radiate from all over its misshapen body, making it even more difficult to parse exactly what it looked like at first. It stood on two thick legs that thinned out near the bottom and it possessed two long, tendril-like arms that hung limply towards the ground as it was hunched over. Its body seemed to be composed of the shadows themselves, and the contours of its form were nearly impossible to distinguish due to how utterly abyssal it was. A pair of beady, gleaming white eyes bored into his very soul from what he assumed as its head, and below them festered a drooping maw that churned and twisted into various expressions of agony and desperation. In his frightened state, the Riolu estimated that it stood around ten, maybe even twelve feet tall. The horrifying entity took a few more steps towards him, its movements jittery and stiff.

"Aaarrraaa..." it moaned, almost pathetically as it shuffled towards Eli. The creature unfurled the tips of its tendril-like arms, revealing and then dropping an assortment of small animals onto the road before it. There was a squirrel, a porcupine, and a few little birds, all of which appeared limp and lifeless as their eyes stared straight ahead.

“No… No!” he gasped desperately while shaking his head, his throat tightening as he found it harder to breathe just from looking at the unnerving monstrosity. His eyes were peeled back in utter terror as he continued to step backwards, unsure if he should scream or run.

The hellish figure continued its advance, its entire body pulsing and undulating faster the closer it got to the terrified Riolu. "Aaarrraaa..."it whined in its unsettling tone as it began to raise its right tendril towards him. Suddenly, its eyes flashed red and its writhing tendril violently stretched towards him as its tip morphed into a fiendish claw. "KRRYYAAHH!"it bellowed, its mouth stretching to twice its size as it lunged for the Riolu.

As the monstrosity made its move, Eli’s legs collapsed beneath him and he fell backwards to the ground. The tendril was mere seconds away from touching him, but to him it looked like the world was moving in slow motion around him.

He was so shocked and terrified that his entire body locked up, refusing to listen to his brain’s primal commands to get away and survive.

He couldn’t think, move, or scream.

* * *

**End of Chapter 2…**

* * *

**_Author’s Note #2: Cutting it close…_ **

_Here’s Chapter 2! Holy crap, is it wordy enough? When I was planning this one out, I certainly didn’t expect it to take up 10,000 words! In addition to that, it took the entire month of January (and a little bit of December) to write. That’s mainly due to me changing directions with it several times over the course of its production before finally settling on an angle… and then changing it all up again! I’m not kidding, there is so much scrapped content for this chapter it’s not even funny. Thankfully, even after all of these issues I was able to keep my deadline! Just barely though… For real, I’m typing up this author’s note thirty minutes before the 1 st of February! _

_Other than that, I hope you enjoyed reading it! Thank you to everyone who’s commented and reviewed my story so far, it really means a lot to me!_

_By the way, random fact; there’s a Dinotopia reference somewhere in this chapter. See if you can find it! I loved those books back in middle school, please tell me I’m not alone!_

_One more thing… I might end up postponing updates for a month after Chapter 3 comes out just so I can take some time to really dig in on chapters 4 and 5, since I’m still a bit unsure on their direction and what they should include. However, I haven’t fully decided on that yet and I’ll let everyone know what my final decision is by Chapter 3’s release._

_For now, this is LiquidMadMan, signing off!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

“KRRYYAAH!”

Eli’s blood ran cold as the creature lunged for him with its tendril-like arm. He sat on the ground, unable to move out of the way or even hear his own thoughts as the pitch-black abomination reached out for him.

 _“Why can’t I move?! Come on! Get up and move!”_ he screamed internally.

He had a feeling that this was it— he was going to die right then and there in a dusty old graveyard at night after having a fight with one of the Pokémon he respected most. He would never get to tell Lara how he truly felt about her, nor would he get to take her on their date or have his first kiss with her. Thoughts of those he loved and respected whipped through his mind in a flash, filling him with a sense of warmth and comfort. During what he believed to be his final moments, his fear gradually started to subside.

 _“Maybe I can fight it off… Maybe its not so tough after all…”_ he thought, unable to cope with the fact that his life was about to end. Unfortunately for him, his mind sprang into motion a little too late. All he could find the strength to do was shut his eyes and brace himself.

 _THOOM…_ A few tense seconds passed. He felt his fur get blown back as the full force of the creature’s attack was thrown towards him, but for some reason it didn’t connect. Unsure of what was going on, Eli cautiously opened one eye and gasped at what he saw. As he expected, the creature had its arm outstretched towards him, the tips of its claw a mere foot or two away from his face. It was poised to grab him, but was instead suspended in motion as a soft blue glow surrounded it. He couldn’t quite process what was going on as just moments before, he had believed that he was going to die.

“ELI!” a familiar voice shouted from nearby, rousing the Riolu from his shaken daze. He looked to his left and saw Miron standing amongst the gravestones, with both of his arms outstretched from beneath his black cloak as a blue glow similar to the one that held the shadow beast’s arm surrounded him as well.

“What are you waiting for, Eli?! Get out of here and alert the guards back at the temple!” the psychic-fighting Pokémon shouted at him, grunting as he poured everything he had into holding the creature back with telekinesis. Eli scrambled to his feet and began to step backwards, not taking his widened eyes off of the barely-restrained monstrosity. “Stop gawking and go! I can only hold it for so long!” the Medicham yelled as beads of sweat started to drip down his face.

The Riolu looked over to Miron for a moment before finally jumping to his feet and sprinting back through the center of the graveyard and towards the temple. It was a straight run, but he had a considerably long way to go until he reached the northern gate. As he ran, he began to worry about the Medicham as he kept the creature busy. He was aware that telekinesis was notoriously draining and difficult to maintain for a psychic-type, as it could be considered one of their most powerful techniques. He hoped that his friend would size up the situation and make the right call to retreat if need be.

The creature hissed as it fought against the Medicham’s psychic vise that had ensnared its body and managed to raise its other arm to attack. Miron knew that his hold on the creature was strained enough as it was and that an attack from close range would cause him to lose his grip anyway, so he released his telekinesis and did his best to dodge the imminent strike. It roared as its claw slammed into the ground mere seconds after Miron jumped out of the way, sending dust and debris flying up around the point of impact. Despite his dodge, the creature seemed to know exactly where he was as its head whipped towards him, its gleaming white eyes shining through the thin cover of dust it had thrown into the air. It snarled and swiped once more at him through the dust, but the Medicham was quick enough on his feet that he was able to dodge again. Even though he had successfully avoided those two attacks, the psychic-fighting Pokémon was still panting and sweating as he tried to recover from his gratuitous but necessary use of psychic energy.

The dust cloud cleared up as the shadow-beast emerged from it, glaring and growling menacingly at the Medicham as he stood firm, ready to carry on the fight despite his rapidly depleting stamina.

In the meantime, Eli had managed to run about halfway through the graveyard while Miron occupied the shadowy brute. “ _This is crazy! I have to warn the guards at the temple! We can’t let these things hurt anyone else like last time…”_ he thought as he continued to run, keeping his sights trained on that white wall of salvation ahead of him. In his peripheral vision, he noticed a dark and wispy presence weaving between the gravestones on the side of the path.

He looked ahead and felt his heart drop into his stomach as a swarm of shadow-beings spilled out from between the gravestones and onto the path, cutting him off from his means of escape. There was no doubt they were related to the larger monstrosity he had just escaped from, as they appeared to be made of the same exact black substance and had a vaguely similar body type but were a lot smaller in comparison. Most actually seemed to be around his size, give or take a foot.

“Shit!” he growled in frustration as he came to a stop and glared angrily at the shadow creatures. His heart was pounding out of his chest and his adrenaline was at an all-time high as he frantically tried to decide whether to stand and fight or turn tail the other way. The entities had formed into a dense mob of thirty in front of him, all hissing and growling at the Riolu as they slowly advanced towards him. He figured that he might be able to fight some of them off, but he had his doubts since they vastly outnumbered him and he wasn’t that great at battling in the first place. Even without sufficient battle experience, he knew that fighting these things would be vastly different than fighting another Pokémon.

“S-stay back! All of you! I’ll fight all of you if I have to!” he growled in the deepest voice he could muster, his body shaking as he quickly and clumsily got into a battling position. He stood his ground as he did his best to keep an eye on all of the creatures at once, his head whipping into a different direction every few seconds as he stared aggressively back into the eyes of the shadowy horde. After running the numbers a bit more in his head, he realized that there was no way he was going to beat back all of these creatures, and that if he fought them it was basically guaranteed that he would lose. Their predatory gazes didn’t deter him from finding the resolve to at least defend himself if it was going to come to that. Speaking to the shadow-beasts only seemed to agitate them as they started to shuffle around and prepare to attack. “You hear me?! GET OUT OF MY WAY!” he yelled as loud as he could, right before one of the creatures in front of him snarled and leapt towards him. Eli jumped backwards as the creature made its move, ready to counter at the right moment.

“Bone Rush!”

Eli heard a familiar voice shout as a dark blue light flew into his field of vision from behind, rapidly followed by a blue-furred figure that landed between him and the shadowy horde with a tremendous thud. The force of the impact compelled Eli to shield himself with his arms as dust and debris were blasted into the air. He put down his arms and saw a Lucario in a Guardian’s tunic crouching there as he held a long, spear-like bone made of glowing blue Aura— its end embedded in the back of the creature that had just jumped towards him. He kept it pinned it to the ground with the end of the bone for a few moments as it writhed and moaned in distress, until its body morphed into a liquefied state and quickly slithered back into the mob.

Eli felt like collapsing in relief as he not only avoided the attack, but was also saved by the exact Pokémon he wanted to see on his side at that very moment. “Viggo! Am I glad to see you! I thought I was gonna have to fight all these things by myself!” he sighed.

Viggo pulled the bone of Aura out of the ground and flashily spun it a few times before brandishing it sideways at the horde of shadows before him. The horde of creatures seemed utterly transfixed by the bone of Aura, following it with their beady white eyes as if they were starving and the Lucario was tempting them with a plate of delicious food. The versatility of Aura never ceased to amaze Eli, as the blue life energy was also able to be drawn from one’s body and tempered into a physical weapon as Viggo had just demonstrated.

“Yeah, don’t mention it… _Or_ question it,” he murmured bitterly as he kept his eyes trained on their amorphous adversaries.

To Eli, that little jab felt like a punch to the gut, not unlike the one Lara had given him earlier. In comparison however, this one hurt much more. He swallowed without uttering a word, unsure of what to say in response. He wanted to turn back time and stop himself from saying what he did in the mausoleum— or at least say it differently, but that was impossible as far as he knew. Even then, he tried to shunt it from his thoughts as he knew that now was not the time or the place to work such things out. He was reminded of that fact when the creatures started to move in again, as simply coveting the Aura-crafted bone wasn’t enough to satiate their hunger.

“At any rate, that’s not the problem right now! The whole graveyard appears to be full of these things, and it looks like you, Miron and I are the only ones that know!” Viggo continued, presumably coming to the same conclusion that the Riolu had.

“Well uh, look on the bright side! Now that you’re here, we might be able to take them together!” the Riolu suggested as he confidently got back into his fighting stance.

“Just shut up and stay back, Eli! There’s no time for that and the two of us aren’t exactly a match for all of them!” the Lucario remarked as the creatures started to advance on them again.

“Well that’s inspiring, isn’t it? And here I thought you were the greatest fighter in Auraciel!” Eli scoffed as he and Viggo took a few steps back.

“What part of _shut up_ do you not get? I’m not exactly in the mood for your crap at the moment,” Viggo grunted. “There’s no point in fighting all of them right now. We need to get back and help out Miron. He’s fighting that big one all by himself and he needs our support!” he explained.

“No wait, I’ve got an idea! How about you throw me over these shadow-freaks and I go get help at the temple like Miron wanted?” the Riolu suggested.

“Didn’t you hear me before? These things are all over the place! You’ll just get trapped and I’ll have to come save you… _Again!_ ” Viggo retorted.

“Will not!”

“ELI!” Viggo yelled in annoyance.

“What?!”

“LISTEN TO MY PLAN!”

“Alright then… SO WHAT’S THE PLAN?!”

“WE RUN BACK ON THE COUNT OF—!”

“OKAY FINE LET’S RUN!” Eli shouted as he turned around and took off running back down the path.

Viggo’s eye twitched as the Riolu ran off without a second thought, leaving him standing there while the creatures ganging up on him couldn’t help but stare in confusion. He yelled in frustration and swung his Aura bone out in front of him, hitting a few of the beasts across their faces before turning and running after Eli. “IDIOT! We were supposed to run together!” he yelled. The second that Viggo started running, the entire horde of shadow beings charged after him, growling and hissing as they tried to catch up to the fleeing fighting-types.

It didn’t take long for Viggo to make pace with Eli, as his legs were nearly twice as long and his muscles were much better developed. Once he was running beside him, he gave the Riolu the dirtiest look he could. As they ran together, Eli stole a quick look back over his shoulder to see if the creatures were still following them. However, he didn’t see any of them in pursuit which made it seem as if they had lost them.

“Hey Viggo! Did we give them the slip?” Eli asked as they continued to run.

“I doubt it! They’re gonna try and surprise us, just you watch! Stay on guard!” Viggo replied.

Once they finally made it back to the section of the path where Miron was, they could see that the Medicham was visibly struggling to continue his fight. Again and again the shadow-beast slammed its large claws into the ground, attempting to squash the psychic-fighting-type as he managed to dodge each and every strike. The ground around the two combatants was rife with pits and cracks created by the creature’s incessant attacks, and there were even a few gravestones that had been shattered during the seemingly intense fight. From what they could see, Miron had his fair share of dust and bruises, indicating that not all of his previous dodges had been successful. Viggo inferred that he must have gotten better at dodging the beast’s attacks the longer their fight went on.

The Medicham seemed to sense them as they arrived, and they could hear his telepathic voice echoing within their minds while they ran towards him. _“Eli! Captain! Good to see you two safe! Though I’m going to be completely honest with you— I’m barely hanging on!”_ he told them, sending a wave of fear through their hearts. They could see that he was panting hard as he dodged yet another strike from the beast, and even his mental voice sounded exhausted. _“I’ve used up too much of my stamina with my psychic powers… Even talking to you like this is draining the energy from me so I can’t talk for much longer… None of my smaller attacks are doing any damage, so I’m going to have to give it everything I’ve got with one more big attack!”_

Eli and Viggo tried to run even faster to reach him in time. “Hang in there, Miron! We’re almost there!” the Lucario called out to him. 

_"I have faith in both of you…”_ Miron told them calmly as he stood his ground against the ghoulish monstrosity.

“I’ve had quite enough of you, _Void_!” he panted as he pointed to the shadow creature. Both Eli and Viggo were taken aback by their friend’s resolve despite his fatigued state. They were even more surprised that the entity— known as a Void, briefly stopped its assault as their friend spoke to it. “You’d best prepare yourself… As long as I’m still able to fight, you won’t be plundering the Aura of me or my friends,” he stated calmly. “Do you hear me? You will not defile them!”

The Void simply growled back at him, letting out a vile hiss as it raised both of its claws and prepared to attack again.

“MIRON!” Viggo yelled as the void’s claws came down upon him. 

Suddenly, Miron’s pupils glowed a bright blue as he brought his palms close together, manifesting a small, pink orb of psychic energy between them. He stood firm, even in the face of being crushed and maimed by the Void’s claw. With one swift and graceful motion, he spread his arms out for a split second before clapping his hands back together, causing the pink orb he had conjured to burst.

“PSYSHOCK!” he shouted as a circular wave of pink, psychic energy exploded from between his hands. The Void that was about to crush him was blown backwards, grunting and hissing in anger as it crashed to the ground and rolled several times as what appeared to be pink bolts of electricity shot through its shadowy body. Eli and Viggo were stopped in their tracks by Miron’s Psyshock, and although they were out of its immediate range, they still had to brace themselves as their fur stood on end from its sheer potency. 

Miron stood there for a moment after unleashing his attack, before dropping to his knees and collapsing on the ground. The Riolu and Lucario rushed over and kneeled down next to him as Viggo propped up his head.

“Damn it! He fainted!” he panted while Eli looked on, his face full of worry. “Looks like he really did use up the last of his energy in that attack...”

“We should get him to the mausoleum!” Eli exclaimed.

“Definitely…” the Lucario replied as he picked up the unconscious Miron and slung him over his shoulder. “Stay close to me and take the front. I’ll be right behind you while I watch our backs,” he ordered.

Eli’s fur went stiff as he looked around and poked Viggo on his shoulder. “Um… Viggo?”

“What?”

“I think this is that surprise you were warning me about…” the Riolu gulped.

Viggo looked up and his heart dropped into his stomach. The horde of Voids they had escaped just a few minutes earlier had returned, and they were now surrounding their immediate area. “Yeah, I hate surprises…” he grumbled.

To make matters worse, the larger Void Miron had downed began to shakily stand back up. Its eyes were blazing red and its mouth was twisted into an odious snarl.

“Y-you’ve gotta be kidding me! Miron’s attack didn’t work… at all?!” Eli gasped.

“No… Look again!” Viggo observed.

The Lucario was correct, as upon further inspection, the Void was clearly missing its left arm. The severed appendage could be seen on the ground beside the creature, while the gash where it used to be was now crackling with pink electricity. Then, something truly peculiar happened right before their eyes as the arm began to morph into three smaller Voids.

“What the—?!” Eli gasped as the three shadow-beings stood up and ran back to the larger Void before they melded back into its body. Within moments, the black matter that made up the Void’s body spouted like blood from its fresh wound and reformed its left arm. “Ugh… I think I’m gonna be sick…” the Riolu groaned.

“Figures!” Viggo scoffed. “Well come on then! We can’t just stand around!” he yelled as he and Eli started to run towards the mausoleum. The large Void howled as it and the smaller ones shambled after them.

After making a mad dash through the rows of gravestones, they found themselves back in front of the mausoleum with the horde of Voids not far behind. Viggo ran up the stairs with Miron still over his shoulder and set him down just inside, leaning him up against a column as he crouched down and gave him one more look.

 _“Seems like he’s stable for now, but he’s probably not going to recover for at least a few hours…”_ the Lucario thought as he placed his paw on the Medicham’s forehead, the soft blue glow of the shrine from deeper within the room illuminating both of them. _“We’ll hold out for as long as we can. We won’t go down without a fight!”_

“Viggo! Get out here!” he heard Eli call. He stood back up and rushed to the entrance of the building where the Riolu was standing. There, he was greeted by the sight of thirty small Voids as well as the bigger one stalking towards the mausoleum. “S-so… Any bright ideas?” Eli asked.

The Lucario might have been the captain of the Auracle Guardians, but he wasn’t a super-soldier by any means. He was strong, but not overly so. He was a decent strategist and was good at giving out and executing orders, but he wasn’t a master tactician. The situation was dire even when Miron was still fighting alongside them, and now that he had fainted, their odds were looking even dimmer. Time was running out as he racked his brain to find an inkling of an idea he could employ to at least give him and the little Riolu beside him a fighting chance.

Eli was also looking out at the approaching horde of Voids as images of the unblinking eyes of the lifeless animals the Void had dropped at its feet flashed in his mind. He glanced back to Miron’s unconscious form, and then behind him to the shrine where the last remaining fragments of Aura belonging to Audrey and several other Pokémon were memorialized. He realized that it wasn’t just his’, Viggo’s, or Miron’s lives at stake anymore. The very memories of those that had been lost were in jeopardy as well, and that was not something that sat well with him.

To be fair, he didn’t know that much about Voids on account of only tangling with them once before— and that was several years ago. However, he knew that if they bested him and Viggo and made it inside of the mausoleum, the Aura at the shrine would be stolen by them as well. It was no secret that Eli was known for being selfish, somewhat reckless, and stubborn to a fault. That being said, those familiar with him often found that what he wanted didn’t always revolve around enriching himself or accomplishing his own personal goals. Sometimes, what he wanted was a bit harder to pin down and didn’t always make perfect sense…

“Got a plan yet, Viggo?” the Riolu asked.

“I’m working on one,” he responded as Eli simply stood there and watched the approaching monstrosities. “Look… I’m not gonna sugar-coat it for you, kid. We’re in a really tough spot. I’d say our chances of making it out of this mess alive or with our Aura is a thousand to one,” he told him as he bit his lower lip.

“You don’t say?”

Viggo looked over at Eli and was surprised to see him assume a fighting stance— albeit a bit clumsily, as expected. “What? Do _you_ have an idea?” he asked him.

“Not really…” the Riolu replied as he looked up at Viggo. “I don’t know if we’ll make it out of this alive or what… But what I do know is that as long as I’m still standing, these bastards aren’t going to touch Audrey’s Aura. I owe that much to her,” he said with a determined spark in his eye.

Viggo was taken aback by the conviction Eli spoke with. He had expected him to start panicking or even retreat, but there he stood— ready to go down fighting in the name of a dear, deceased friend. Perhaps witnessing Miron’s resolve a few minutes before had inspired him.

“Well I have to say it seems like your attitude is improving. Let’s put our differences aside for now and just focus on getting out of this mess…” Viggo stated as Eli nodded back to him.

Just then, he thought of something he had noticed during all of the chaos. He remembered that the Voids were almost mesmerized by the bone of Aura created by his Bone Rush attack when he used it before. From this simple observation he was able to formulate an idea he hoped would at least buy them some time.

“Eli, I have a plan to keep the smaller Voids away for a bit. You stay here and watch Miron, I shouldn’t be long!” the Lucario told him as he jumped off of the stairs and ran to the right. As Eli tilted his head to the side to see what Viggo was up to, he saw him run up near the advancing ring of Voids as a blue glow emanated from between his paws.

“Bone Rush!”

At first Eli thought he was going to try attacking them, but he was surprised to see that wasn’t the case at all. Instead, the moment the Lucario conjured his glowing bone of Aura, he planted it firmly into the ground like a post. The Voids’ eyes lit up as they spotted the bone in front of them, and those that saw it skittered over and began to devour it. He then ran to the left a few yards and did the same thing, creating another bone of Aura before sticking it in the ground. Just like before, the Voids closest to it were entranced by its blue glow and immediately made a beeline for it before clamoring around it and slowly but surely absorbing the Aura.

The Riolu could see exactly what Viggo was trying to do. Within thirty seconds, the Lucario was able to successfully create a curved line of Aura bones that formed a half-circle perimeter around the front of the mausoleum. It seemed to be doing its job pretty well, but it was obvious that the barrier was only a temporary one as the Voids continued to feast on the fragments of Viggo’s own Aura, their ghoulish maws stretching wide open as they inhaled the blue life force while the bones gradually disintegrated. As Viggo returned to the front steps of the mausoleum, Eli could see that a good chunk of his life energy had been paid in order to create so many objects out of his Aura at once. He was panting hard and his movements were slower than before. While his Aura would be gradually replenished, time wasn’t something they had on their side.

“Th-there… That should… Hold them off f-for a bit…” Viggo panted as he tried to give Eli a reassuring smile.

“Whoa, its actually working!” the Riolu commented as he watched the Voids slowly eating the Aura bones. “Nice one! I guess they didn’t make you captain for nothing, eh?” he chuckled as he gave the Lucario a friendly bump on his arm.

“Thanks, but this is no time to be celebrating… They’re eating through those bones faster than I thought, and to be honest I doubt the big one will be take the bait,” he said.

Just then, they heard the big Void let out a chilling, hollow-sounding moan as it stood up from behind the crowd of smaller Voids as if to see what all of the fuss was about. It looked around and saw the mob of Voids clamoring around the bones of Aura while the two fighting-type Pokémon stood defiant on the steps of the mausoleum just ahead. Its eyes flashed red and it roared as it lumbered towards its prey. It then dove into a four-legged charge, knocking the smaller Voids out of the way and smashing through several tombstones while running straight for the two fighting-types. 

It roared again before it leapt into the air and raised its claws. 

“Stay back and guard Miron! Let me handle this!” Viggo growled to Eli as he prepared himself for battle.

“What about you, though!? You’re weakened! You’re gonna need my h— AGH!” Eli tried to reply, but was interrupted as the Void landed.

The large Void came crashing down at the foot of the stairs, causing the ground to shake for a moment as dust erupted around it. Eli jumped back to the entrance of the mausoleum to take cover while Viggo stood still and shut his eyes as the appendages on the back of his head levitated slightly. He jumped to the left as the Void’s claw whipped out of the dust cloud and tore a chunk out of the stairs right where he had been standing. The second his feet touched the stairs again, he suddenly launched directly into the dust cloud. This worried the Riolu since he could no longer keep track of Viggo, but thankfully he didn’t have to wait long to see him again.

“Sky… UPPERCUT!” Eli heard him shout as a white flash of light exploded from the center of the dust cloud, followed by the Void flying backwards out of it. The shadowy beast landed a good fifty feet away from the dust cloud, and crashed to the ground on its side.

Eli whistled in awe as the dust finally settled, revealing Viggo standing staunchly with his right paw clenched in the air. “Hhgh… Well that’s a start at least…” he scoffed as he lowered his paw. However, something caught his attention as he brought it back down. “Wh-what the-?!” he stammered as his face went flush. The paw he used in his attack had somehow gotten covered in a gooey, dark substance— exactly what the Voids were made out of. He tried to flex his digits, but it seemed as if they were glued shut. A thin layer of black smoke rose from the tar-like substance, and his arm suddenly began to feel heavier and number than usual. He attempted to rub it off using the left sleeve of his tunic, but it only spread there as well.

His thoughts were interrupted by the Void which chuckled deviously as it quickly stood back up. It looked up at him with a twisted grin as its eyes turned back to white.

“Wonderful…” Viggo panted irritably. “Now I… Dislike you _twice_ as much as… I Did before…”

“GRRRAAAH!” the beast roared as it drew its claw back. The sharp claw rapidly reformed into a cluster of five wriggling tendrils before the Void swung its arm towards Viggo. The Lucario dodged to the side as the creature’s bouquet of tendrils slammed into the ground next to him, and he jumped once more as the wiggling appendages whipped out towards him and barely missed his feet.

 _“Damn! I got so caught up in the moment that I overlooked one of the most annoying things about Voids, which is that they’re made of a gunk that can stick to objects. If it gets stuck on a living thing, be it an animal or plant, it’ll start burning up the Aura around the area it touches,”_ he contemplated as he dodged yet another strike from the Void’s writhing tendrils. _“Lucky me! Now my entire arm is going to go numb, and my Aura still hasn’t fully replenished after creating those bones for our fence. I need to find a way to finish this thing off fast!”_

Meanwhile, Eli was watching the struggle from the entrance of the mausoleum as he gritted his teeth. He wanted to be out there helping Viggo so very badly, but he knew that it may only make things more complicated. He had already angered Viggo enough that night and he didn’t want to screw things up even more. Besides, he’d probably be more of a liability on the battlefield than anything, since he wasn’t good at fighting to begin with. The last thing he wanted was to get someone else hurt because of his own lack of skill on that front. He had already been through that once before, after all, and he wasn’t eager to relive that experience…

“KRRRYAA!” the Void screamed at him as the cluster of tendrils on its hand stopped moving and formed together into an array of long, black spikes. Its eyes flashed red again as it roared and pointed its deadly-looking appendage directly at Viggo. All at once, the spikes rapidly extended and stabbed into the ground right at the Lucario’s feet. Viggo jumped back again, panting as his arm now hung limply at his side. The numbing effect from the dark sludge was gradually adding up, and it wouldn’t be long until it finally got the best of him unless he did something. His mind flashed back to how Miron used his Psyshock to sever one of its limbs, and he realized something that should’ve been obvious to him from that very moment.

 _“I remember now! This big one is made up of several smaller ones… I need to break it apart so Eli and I can have somewhat of a fighting chance!”_ he thought. 

The Void’s spikes extended out towards him again, forcing him to sidestep its latest attack. As he did this, the tip of one of the corner spikes barely managed to cut his limp arm through the sleeve of his tunic, drawing a fair amount of blood from the gash.

“VIGGO!” Eli yelled to him after seeing the blood trickle down his arm and onto the ground. However, instead of cry of pain or distress from the Lucario, what followed was complete silence as he stood firm and raised his still-working arm against the Void as it stared back at him.

“Not bad… You actually managed to hit me…” Viggo murmured as his green eyes glowed with an intense fervor. Eli definitely recognized that expression. That was the look Viggo had when he was about to go for absolute broke. “What does that make it now, one to one?”

The Void didn’t seem to want to humor him as it retracted its spikes and growled at him before darting forward and slamming its other claw down towards him. Viggo dashed under its attack and leaped up towards its face with his functional paw clenched and glowing. “Two!” he shouted as his Sky Uppercut made contact with its ghoulish mug, a bright burst of white light punctuating its impact. The Void seemed to feel it just as much as his previous uppercut, as it recoiled in anger at being struck again.

“GRRAAH! HSSSSSS!” the Void hissed.

Once Viggo landed back on the ground, it was apparent that his left paw was now covered in the gooey, dark substance as well. He winced as he felt the numbing effects of the sludge immediately take hold of his paw, but he bit his lower lip and prepared to attack again. The Void didn’t have much of a chance to counterattack as it was still reeling from the first punch, and Viggo was already leaping up towards its head with his right leg extended.

“Three!” he shouted, delivering a powerful Hi-Jump Kick directly to the Void’s face, knocking it back a few more feet. As Eli watched, he could see that the creature’s head was starting to twist and deform at an unnatural angle.

“RRRAAAGH!” the Void bellowed as it shook its head and got down all fours once more. As Viggo landed again, it seemed that his right leg also had some of the dark substance on it as well. His arms hung limp at his sides and his right leg wobbled and shook as the numbness set in. Despite his increasingly dwindling stamina and stunned limbs, the look in his eyes made it clear that he wasn’t going to falter and was determined to fight until he could no longer stand.

Eli watched with baited breath as the shadow-beast lunged forward, determined to end the Lucario whom so boldly stood against it. He wanted to have faith in his companion, but even the Riolu didn’t know if Viggo truly still had the strength to continue.

“KRRRRYAAH!” the beast roared as it leapt off the ground and careened towards the Lucario that stood in its path.

The Captain of the Auracle Guardian continued to stand his ground even as the Void rushed towards him. His demeanor was calm and firm as he bent his left leg and stood on his numb right leg— a gutsy move to be sure. The Lucario was able to concentrate enough so that he didn’t immediately fall on his bum leg, and was even able to spin his entire body clockwise as he stood on it. He made a quick rotation and unbent his left leg, extending it outwards for one final kick. His foot smashed against the Void’s head as it flew right into the path of his kick, tearing it off the creature’s body and sending it flying high into the air. The instant that its head was knocked off, the Void’s entire body fell into pieces around Viggo. Eli watched in disgust as the pieces of its body morphed into smaller Voids that quickly scrambled to their feet and ran back into the horde while hissing and whimpering.

“And that’s… Four…” Viggo murmured.

The Riolu’s look of concern quickly turned to one of elation. “Hell yeah! Way to go, Viggo!” He cheered from the steps of the mausoleum.

“AaaaaaaaAAUUUGGGGH!” Both of their ears perked up as they heard the Void’s head screaming as it plummeted back to the ground, where it landed not too far from Viggo. It then morphed into a smaller, independent one just like the others before writhing on the ground for a bit, moaning and groaning as tried to get its bearings.

Viggo began to limp towards the Void as his paws and feet were covered in the black, gooey substance. As the Void recovered from its beating and saw him approaching, it jumped to its feet and lunged for him. The unyielding Lucario continued moving forward and met its attack with a swift kick, knocking it back down onto the ground.

“Viggo! Be careful!” Eli called out to him.

“Bastards! No good… Disgusting… Little… BASTARDS!” the Lucario spat as he continued to beat back the Void’s many attempts to strike him. After a few more clashes, Eli could see that Viggo was starting to waver while the Void was still as vicious as before despite its smaller size. And then, his breath got caught in his throat as he watched the Lucario stumble to the side, drop to his knees, and after a few tense moments fall to the ground.

“VIGGO! NO!” Eli shouted. He knew that he could no longer wait at the mausoleum for further orders, and that immediate action had to be taken. He reached to the side and ripped off a piece of Miron’s black cloak to use as a makeshift bandage for Viggo’s wound. He then ran down the stairs of the mausoleum and charged straight at the Void as it loomed over the Lucario’s motionless form. The Riolu had now gone against Viggo’s orders, but he had done so many times before so he didn’t care. He needed to defend his friend right then and there, no matter the threat. _“You may be down for the count, Viggo… But I still have energy left to fight!”_ he thought as he sprinted as fast as his short legs could carry him.

The Void placed its claw on the Lucario’s back, presumably to absorb his Aura, but stopped and looked up as it heard footsteps rapidly approaching. It snarled as it spotted the Riolu rushing towards it, and got ready to strike him as he closed in.

In the few moments before clashing with the Void, Eli remembered from watching Viggo’s fight with it that they were made up of a strange substance that was able to siphon off Aura from different parts of the body, resulting in a numbing effect. He quickly ripped off a sizable scrap of fabric from the piece of Miron’s cloak he had taken and wrapped his right paw with it to protect himself against the sludge.

“GET OFF OF HIM!” Eli yelled as he charged the Void. He raised his cloth-covered paw towards the creature’s face as a white glow surrounded it. “FORCE PALM!” he shouted, holding his wrist steady as his open paw connected with the Void’s face. There was a loud bang just before a bright white flash erupted from his palm and the air distorted around the point of impact as the Void’s face was violently blasted back, causing its entire body to fly backwards and flip over until it smashed into the ground several feet away. After it landed, it grotesquely and stiffly convulsed on its back as it hissed and growled in anger.

“Good… Got the paralysis on it…” he murmured while removing the cloth from his paw. His idea seemed to work because while there was indeed some gunk on his paw after striking the Void, it was only on the cloth it was wrapped in, which he easily discarded to the side. “Please be okay! Please be okay!” he pleaded as he got down on his knees turned him over so that he could inspect his front. As he did this, the Lucario stirred slightly and let out a weak moan.

“Hhhhggh… Bastards…” he muttered as his eyes flickered open. Once he looked up and saw the Riolu kneeling right next to him, a confused grimace found its way onto his muzzle. “Eli? What are you doing?” he asked, still sounding a bit staggered. 

“I came to save you!” Eli replied proudly as he quickly wrapped Viggo’s wounded arm with the cloth he had brought. He then tied it off with a tight knot so it would apply at least a bit of pressure to stop the bleeding.

“I… I don’t need saving…” the Lucario protested weakly.

“Yeah right, jelly-legs! You can barely move! Those Aura bones of yours are gonna disappear any second now, and we only have a little time before the paralysis I put on that Void wears off,” Eli explained as he stood back up and walked around to Viggo’s legs. He bent down and grabbed his feet with both hands and started to pull him along the ground behind him. “Trust me, it’d be fun to rub it in that freak’s face but we have to go!” 

“What… What about Miron?”

“Oh he’s fine! Don’t worry about him. He’s in the mausoleum right where I left him,” the Riolu replied as he pulled him back towards the aforementioned building.

“So you just left him?”

“He’s unconscious! He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.” 

“Eli… You know how dangerous it is out here right now? It wasn’t the smartest idea to come rushing out to me, was it?” the Lucario chided.

“Would you give the buzzkill routine a rest for a sec? I just saved your tail, didn’t I?”

“I never said you didn’t…”

“A thank-you would be much appreciated, el capitan.”

“Right, right… Thanks, Eli…”

“Don’t mention it! Also, I’m the captain now.”

“Umm… What? Says who?”

“Says me! Your energy is almost completely drained thanks to that Void-gunk, but I’ve only used one attack so far. Between the two of us, who do you think is the most capable fighter right now?”

“Hmmm… Me?”

“Well… You’re not totally wrong I guess… But at least I can still move!”

“Speaking of that gunk… I still have it on me, just in case you forgot…” the Lucario groaned. “You know, on my paws and feet… The parts of me you’re touching?”

“Say what?” Eli stopped for a moment and looked down to see if he was truly touching the gunk-covered parts of Viggo’s feet. Sure enough, he was. “Aw, son of a bitch!” the Riolu swore as he unceremoniously let go of his feet to take a look at his own paws, both of which now had the Void’s gunk on them. He heard Viggo whine as his feet and legs dropped back onto the ground. “Whoops! Sorry, big guy…” the Riolu murmured as he picked him back up by his feet.

“Oh come on, Eli! Its always one step forward, two steps back with you!”

“Do you ever stop nagging? Look, we have bigger problems to—,” Eli started to reply, but stopped as he caught a glimpse of the Aura bones dissipating. “…Worry about…”

Eli stopped in his tracks as he looked around and witnessed Viggo’s Aura-bones dissolving as the last of their energy was absorbed by the horde of Voids that had been lured over to them. Once they were completely gone, the Voids turned their attention to the pair of fighting-types and immediately began to stalk towards them. The half-circle that Viggo had carved out using the bones of Aura was already closing in along with their chances of survival.

“Shit! Let’s leg it!” Eli whimpered in fear as he tried to pull Viggo as quickly as he could.

“Ow! OW! My head isn’t numb, don’t be so rough!” the Lucario barked.

Suddenly, Eli and Viggo heard a few Voids cry out in distress as something seemed to be happening. All of a sudden, there was a great uproar among the swarm of shadow-beasts as what appeared to be bursts of electricity and psychic energy erupted near the northern perimeter of the horde. It seemed to come out of nowhere as even most of the Voids were compelled to look up and over towards the forest to see what was going on. Despite the sudden commotion, Eli continued to pull Viggo towards the mausoleum, but the Lucario was facing away from him so he was somewhat able to see what was going on.

The horde’s attention quickly turned towards the forest north of the graveyard as the bushes at its edge started to rustle. From out of the dense foliage came several Pokémon, all wearing Guardian tunics and shouting battle cries. They were quite varied in type and species, including Manectric, Poliwrath, Medicham, and Lucario, but it was clear that they were all Auracle Guardians. They kept emerging from the woods until they numbered twenty strong and stood before the thirty or so Voids.

“The… The Guardians!” Viggo gasped as he turned to his side and tried to dig in with his elbow as Eli continued to pull him along. “ELI! Slow down for a moment! It’s the Guardians! They need to know we’re here!” he told him.

Eli looked back to Viggo for a moment, who pointed towards the group of newly-arrived Pokémon— all of whom wore Guardian attire. “That’s great and all, but we need to get you to safety!” the Riolu responded as he continued to drag Viggo behind him.

“N-no! Eli, wait! I’m their captain! They need me out there!” the Lucario protested.

“One, you can barely stand! Two, my paws are starting to go numb. And three, have you already forgotten? I’M the captain!” Eli retorted.

Meanwhile, the Guardians were quickly advancing on the horde of Voids.

“They’re right at Auraciel’s doorstep! Flush them out!” one of them yelled.

“Drive them back from the temple! Don’t let a single one get through!” another shouted.

The Voids recoiled slightly and hissed at the assembly of Guardians as they arrived, but after a few moments they had regrouped and were ready to face off against them. “HSSSSS! SSSSHAAA!” they snarled before charging the Guardians.

While the Voids attacked with what appeared to be concentrated savagery, the Guardians on the other hand spread out and immediately began to flank the horde. A Poliwrath met two Voids at once and blasted them with a powerful stream of boiling hot water fired from his mouth— an attack known as Scald. A particular Manectric was making dodging the shadow creatures’ attacks seem like a walk in the park, disorienting several of them and leading them into a circle before unleashing a devastating electric pulse attack known as Discharge, shocking all of them at the same time. A Lucario found herself being rushed by four Voids at once, but instead of running she stood firm and whirled her fists in a circular motion, resulting in a vacuum-like wave that she then hurled towards her attackers. The Voids were buffeted by the intense whirlwind— an attack known as Vacuum Wave, and were thrown into different directions as the Lucario prepared to fight more.

While the Guardians fought on, they were making a concerted effort to push the shadow creatures back towards the forest. It was clear that no matter how many attacks they threw at them, the Voids would always come back kicking. They understood that their best course of action was to simply drive them back from the temple and defend it from there.

As Eli persisted with pulling Viggo to the mausoleum, the Lucario started to speak again. “Eli! Look!” he grunted as he pointed behind him.

“Oh what is it now, ya big baby?” Eli asked, sounding a bit annoyed. However, once he looked behind him, his eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets. Stumbling after them was the very same Void that him and Viggo had delivered a beating to. It was stiffly shambling along as it glared at them with its glowing red eyes, its body still convulsing every now and then from the paralysis that Eli had inflicted on it. It was obvious now that it had finally worn off, and that the Void had vengeance on its mind.

“Hhhhhssssss…” it hissed in a venomous tone.

“Give me a break! These things never quit!” Eli whimpered as he once again started to pick up speed.

“Oh wow, what a courageous captain!” Viggo groaned.

“Stuff it! Retreating is a legitimate strategy!” Eli replied.

“No need to run, kid!” someone yelled, causing Eli and Viggo to look around for the source of the voice. They quickly got their answer as a Guardian came running in from the side and stood between the two fighting-types and the Void. Eli stopped in his tracks and looked back to see a quadrupedal Pokémon with light yellow skin and a ring of tightly-curled leaves around her long neck, as well as a large leaf on a stem that grew out of her head. She also wore a white and black Guardian vest around the upper half of her torso. She was a Bayleef, a grass-type Pokémon.

“Looks like I made it just in time, eh captain~?” the Bayleef teased as she turned back around to face the Void.

“S-Sonia… Am I glad to see you!” Viggo sighed in relief. “What’s going on out there? Where did these things come from?”

“I’ll explain what happened in a minute, but first I have some business to take care of!” she replied as the Void began to charge towards her. She used her back legs to jump into the air as the leaves around her neck began to glow green and unfurl. “Razor Leaf!” she yelled as she pointed all four of her limbs as well as her head towards her enemy. As she did this, the leaves on her neck pointed towards the Void and shot off of her neck in a spinning pattern while new leaves rapidly began to grow in their place. The attacking shadow-being was instantly buffeted by the flurry of sharp leaves they sliced into it at numerous angles. The Void stopped its charge and recoiled, hissing at the Bayleef as she landed back on her feet. It stared her down and growled as it started to strafe to the side in an attempt to flank her. However, she kept her eyes trained on the beast and turned her body along with it so that it wouldn’t get a chance to attack her side.

“You still haven’t had enough? Alright then, how about this!?” she taunted as she jumped back. “Vine Whip!” she shouted as two long vines suddenly extended out of two of the leaves on her neck before they launched towards the Void and smacked it across its face. True to the move’s name, the vines snapped like whips as their tips cracked across the creature’s mug, sending it flying backwards until it tumbled along the ground. A bit of the black gunk got on the tips of her vines because of her attack, but she remedied this by bringing them up to her maw and biting the vine a below its tip. There was a moist crunch and a snap before the Bayleef calmly tore the tips off of both of her vines and spat them out to the side.

The Void slowly began to stand up again, but it seemed to be far less aggressive now. The shadow-beast glared and growled up at the Bayleef as well as the Riolu and Lucario right behind her. As the cheers of Guardians and the shrieks of Voids could be heard nearby, the creature looked over to its brethren and saw them rapidly retreating towards the woods. It then looked back at the trio of Pokémon and snarled venomously before scuttling away to join the others in retreat.

Eli, Viggo, and Sonia could see the horde of Voids running back into the forest as the Guardians whooped and hollered in victory at various points in the graveyard. It seemed as if the battle was finally over. The Lucario breathed another sigh of relief and smiled up at the Bayleef as Eli began to laugh.

“Wow! We actually managed to drive them back!” he chuckled as he dropped Viggo’s legs on the ground before sitting down. “Er… Well, I guess you Guardians did anyway…” he added sheepishly as he looked to Sonia. “Thanks a bunch for that by the way!”

“It was our pleasure~!” Sonia cheerfully replied. “Any chance I get to show off and save the captain here is one I’ll happily take~,” she giggled teasingly towards Viggo.

“Mmmhhh… I think those chances are fewer and farther between than you’re insinuating…” Viggo grumpily replied before his expression softened and he gave Sonia a little smirk. “Though I have to admit, the lot of you did come in at just the right moment! You all have truly shown your worth here tonight by defending the temple,” he told her.

The Bayleef’s cheeks burned a bright pink as she bashfully smiled and nodded back to him. “I… I’m glad you think so, Captain~!”

“You heard that, Viggo~? She’s glad you think so~!” Eli snickered as he leaned down next to the Lucario’s face, which began to turn a bit red as well.

“Eli, I swear to Arceus…” he murmured crossly.

“And as for _you_ , Eli…” the Bayleef stated, getting his attention as he sat back up. “I commend you for your bravery, and I give you my thanks for helping out our captain in his time of need,” she told him graciously.

“Yeah, yeah don’t worry about it. It wasn’t _that_ big of a deal or anything…” Eli replied smarmily. “What we really need is a way to get this Void-gunk off of us…” he added as he held his paws out.

“No worries! We’ve got just the thing back at the temple…” she replied with a smile.

“That’s a relief! I’d hate to still have this stuff on my paws when I… Uh…” the Riolu began, but stopped himself before he said anything too vulgar in the presence of a female. _“Okay, bad time to talk about that stuff… Change the subject! Change the subject!”_ he thought frantically. 

“Uh… There’s an unconscious Medicham in the mausoleum…” he stated suddenly.

Sonia simply blinked at him a few times before cocking her head to the side. “Is that like… A riddle or something?” she asked innocently.

“No no! I mean there’s actually an unconscious Medicham in the mausoleum back there,” Eli replied as he pointed back towards it. Sure, it was awkward but at least he seemed to change the subject.

The Bayleef gasped and looked towards the building as Eli pointed to it. “Wait, really? Oh no… You don’t mean Miron, do you? Did he get mixed up in all of this as well?” she asked, visibly concerned.

“Afraid so…” Viggo replied as he also looked towards the mausoleum. “He fainted after greatly wounding one of the bigger, fused Voids. He’s unconscious, yes, but its nothing too serious. He should be fine once he gets some rest,” he explained.

“Oh! Well that’s good to know,” Sonia replied, sounding quite relieved. 

“Yeah, the guy went out fighting like a badass! He definitely deserves a medal… or whatever you Guardians give out!” Eli commented before leaning down next to Viggo’s face again. “Ribbons, trophies, _kisses_ , whatever floats your boat, really!” he snickered. 

“I swear, once I get the feeling in my limbs back I’m going to—,” the Lucario growled, only for Eli to completely ignore his threat as he stood back up.

“ _Anyway_ , do you mind telling us what the hell was up with all of those Voids?” the Riolu asked softly. “I haven’t seen anything like them in six years…”

“Yes, Sonia. A proper briefing is obviously in order, but just for now I need to get at least an idea of what we’re dealing with here,” Viggo explained. “What’s going on out in the forest?”

The Bayleef said nothing for a moment as her smile disappeared and her eyes became distant.

“Sonia… Is it what I think it is?” the Lucario asked.

Sonia took a deep breath before letting it back out. “Alright, I’ll tell you what we can confirm as of now…”

“I’m listening,” Viggo responded curtly as Eli perked his ears up to listen as well.

“The presence of so many Voids in one location is undoubtedly a strong indicator of what we’re dealing with, but on top of that several of our Guardians were able to confirm it from firsthand accounts. The situation is that we have a strong reason to believe that…” she explained anxiously.

Viggo’s expression turned sour as Eli’s face visibly darkened as well. They knew what she was about to say.

“…A Mystery Dungeon has appeared on Zephyr Island.”

* * *

**End of Chapter 3…**

* * *

**_Author’s Note #3: Dun-Dun-Dungeon?_ ** ****

_First of all, I apologize for the slightly longer-than-average wait for this chapter. Some real-life stuff came up (such as going through multiple medical exams because I found out that I have to have surgery on my foot next month- yeah, lots of fun, I know...) so it took much longer than I originally anticipated. That being said, I also needed to take extra care with the first real action scene in the story, and I hope that additional focus paid off in the end._

_I’m hoping that the surgery won’t keep me down for too long so I can get back to writing as soon as possible because a lot of neat stuff in the story is about to be set up within the next few chapters!_

_As always, I welcome any and all reviews, comments, and critiques, and I thank each and every one of you that has reviewed or critiqued my story so far. Every little bit helps me out and lets me know what aspects of the story you like as well as what I should work on, and I greatly appreciate your feedback._

_For now, this is LiquidMadMan, signing off!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The medical ward at the Temple of Auraciel was unusually busy given how late at night it was. Thankfully, the nurses that worked there were quite skilled and had the situation thoroughly under control. The ward itself was essentially one big, cavernous room with high, vaulted ceilings. The pillars that held up the ceiling also doubled as markers for nearly a hundred partitions made of wooden screens and curtains, each one featuring a cot and some basic privacy for each and every patient so that the nurses could work on them with relatively little distraction.

Almost three-quarters of those spaces had become occupied by the time the weary, wounded and yet victorious Auracle Guardians were being tended to. Some were being carried between the rows of pillars and curtains on stretchers by nurses, moaning and writhing as their caretakers did their best to soothe them.

Behind one of the curtained-off spaces, the shadowy silhouette of a Lucario sitting sideways on a cot while an Audino, a stocky Pokémon with a fluffy tail and large, floppy ears sitting on a chair in front of him could be seen as a candle illuminated them from behind. The Lucario had taken off his leather armor and tunic to make things easier for the homely Audino wearing a white coat as she sewed up the ghastly cut on his arm.

“Ugh…”

“What’s wrong, Viggo? You can feel it?” the nurse Audino asked him.

“N-no… Just looking at it is making me sorta lightheaded…”

“Then don’t look at it,” she snorted as she continued to stitch up the wound. 

The Lucario simply grunted before averting his gaze away from the half-stitched gash on his right arm. It was one of the more noticeable scars he had earned during his recent battle with the big Void at the graveyard on the outskirts of the temple grounds earlier that night. As impressive as it was, it wasn’t the most dangerous souvenir he had brought back from the fight…

That distinction fell upon the writhing black blotches of gunk that were currently clinging to all four of his limbs, each of them steadily draining the Aura from his body.

“Ya know in some ways, you’re kinda lucky there, kiddo,” the nurse remarked. “In a controlled, safe environment like this, Shadow Matter actually makes a good natural anesthetic. I can stitch your arm right up without you feeling a thing, and there’s no danger of you dyin’ or losin’ all your Aura,” she explained casually, as if Viggo hadn’t just been put through the ringer by the very abomination that the aforementioned goop came from. “It also helps that you’re in the care of a _highly-skilled_ medical professional…” she added with a chuckle.

“Honestly, Mina… You call this _natural_?” the Lucario grumbled as he moved his other arm, observing the black goo as it continued to spread over it as well as his other limbs at a glacial pace. Although a Shadow Matter attack was slow, it was still extremely dangerous if left untreated. It was a good thing he was in the company of someone who could help him remove the gunk, as he could only imagine how horrible it would be to slowly wither away into a soulless husk— an agonizingly slow process that could take several days depending on the size of the victim. For many, it would most likely be preferable for a Void to simply drain the Aura from them directly rather than suffer in fear and frustration until they were sucked thoroughly dry of their life force.

“Well technically it is, isn’t it? Aint that what they taught you during your studies here?” the nurse retorted.

“Oh right, right…”

“Still, its crazy to think that a Mystery Dungeon’s popped up again…” she sighed. “And for us to get one that spawns Voids twice in a row? Now that’s some rotten luck, hon!”

“You’re telling me. I’m the one who has to deal with it,” he scoffed.

“Oh pshaw… Enough of that whining, Big Vi! You realize how well you, Miron and little Eli handled those beasties till Sonia and the rest of the Guardians got there?” she chuckled with a smile. “Sure you all got a bit battered, but that’s to be expected in battle, hon! I’ve got faith that you and all the Guardians will be able to handle this.”

Mina’s praise made the Lucario smirk a bit. “Well even though we won, it was still a hard-fought battle,” he sighed. “To be quite honest, if Sonia and the rest of them hadn’t shown up…” he began, but fell silent for a moment as the reality of their ordeal started to set in. “Eli and I could’ve been overwhelmed by those things… At the very least, our Aura would’ve been drained,” he explained as his eyes narrowed. “Just like what happened to Audrey…”

The Audino looked up for a moment while she started putting the finishing touches on Viggo’s stitches, watching the candlelight flicker within his green eyes as certain tragic and painful events were no doubt replaying themselves in his mind. However, what she saw in his eyes wasn’t grief or sorrow, but rather determination and resolve. She shook her head gently as she finished suturing his arm, wondering if the Lucario’s heart was on its way to healing like the rest of him was. Even so, she could see how these current events were reminding him of what had happened in the past.

“A darn tragedy, wasn’t it? She was so strong and beautiful, and still had a lot of life left ahead of her, too,” she sighed heavily. “She didn’t deserve what happened to her…”

“You know, Eli still feels like it was all his fault,” Viggo said abruptly, making Mina shake her head again.

“He really still believes that?” she asked.

“What I don’t get is why. No one here at the temple has ever accused him of being responsible for Audrey’s death, and she even made sure that he knew that. And still… Tonight he mouthed off to me about it again.”

“Eh… Boys can be stubborn like that sometimes…” Mina murmured.

“Oh, well _that’s_ helpful,” Viggo retorted. “Isn’t there some way to get through to him?”

“Hmm, even in my old age I still haven’t come to fully grasp the male mind. While I’ve dealt with my fair share of angsty teenagers throughout the years, I’ve never encountered a problem like the one between you and Eli. Besides, I’m a nurse not a psychiatrist!” she groaned. “If you really want to figure that out, then you should probably try to spend more time with him. Find out what’s been going through his head lately and all that…”

“Mina, I’ve spent plenty of time with him. I used to train both him and Lara eight hours a day,” the Lucario responded dismissively.

“Yeah, in a _class_. Weren’t there around fifteen other pupils that you instructed alongside those two? Not to mention ever since you became the Captain of the Guardians you’ve no doubt spent less and less time training him,” she said.

“I mean… Look, he’s sixteen years old. I’m not directly responsible for him and I don’t have the time or patience to play therapist. Also, I have a lot more responsibility nowadays ever since becoming Captain, especially since this incident with the Mystery Dungeon just came out of nowhere. I really do care about him but I just can’t be expected to hold his hand with this stuff forever. I’ve said my piece to him time and time again, but he’s just too damn stubborn. Sooner or later he’s gonna have to figure it out for himself,” Viggo explained while wearing a stern frown.

The Audino put her stubby hands up and turned her head away from him. “Hey now, you asked for a way to get through to him and I gave you one. You two have known each other for years, so you’ll have to be the ones to hash this out,” she replied.

“I get that. Its just really bad timing is all…” he said before letting out a long sigh. “I think you’re right, though. If I have some time then I really should try to patch things up with him. Maybe then I can get through that thick skull of his’,” he admitted, his expression softening a little.

By then, Mina had finally finished stitching up his arm. “Well, I’d like to think I know a thing or two about dealing with moody kids. I’ve got a couple of them myself, you know!” she chuckled as she turned to the side and opened a small wooden cabinet. She reached inside and pulled out a glass bottle containing a clear liquid that sparkled and shined brightly. “Now, let’s get that Shadow Matter off of you. Don’t fret, this Luminous Water won’t hurt a bit! Go ahead and hold out your right arm for me, hon,” she told him, popping the cork from the bottle as a light fizzing sound emanated from it.

He did as instructed while the Audino held his wrist to keep his arm steady. She then tilted the bottle slightly as the Luminous Water started pouring out directly onto the Shadow Matter. The moment that the glowing water hit the black gunk, it began to writhe and shudder. Strangely, it clung even tighter to Viggo’s arm in response to the water being drizzled over it. Viggo noticed it clinging tightly to him, and wondered if the goo was consciously aware that it was being dissolved and wanted to do absorb as much Aura as possible from him before it was removed. At any rate, it didn’t seem like the gunk could withstand the effects Luminous Water, and quickly dissolved into nothing as the water quickly dried as well. The Lucario had heard of Luminous Water and what it was used for, but he had never seen it in action before. It was quite the intriguing sight, he had to admit.

After his right arm was clear of Shadow Matter, nurse Mina pulled back a bit and grabbed a small towel from the side to wipe it down. “There! One limb down, three to go…” she said before motioning for his other arm. Viggo held out his left arm next, allowing her to perform the same treatment on it as well. She soon finished with his left arm and quickly moved to work on his legs. “Y’know, Viggo… I might like giving you a hard time but I really do respect and care about you. Ever since you were little I’ve been patching you up… But look at you now! You’re the Captain of the Auracle Guardians, and the best hope we have of fending off those nasty Voids! You did great tonight, hon. I’m proud of you,” Mina told him with a look of sincere admiration.

“Ah, it’s nothing! Just doing my part to protect the temple…” the Lucario stated as he crossed his arms and averted his gaze from her while his ears started to feel a bit hot.

“ _And_ its people! That’s certainly worthy of a bit of praise right, Big Vi?” the Audino scoffed as she playfully hit him with the towel.

“Well, I mean-OW!” Viggo began to say, but stopped and groaned in pain while gritting his teeth. “Holy… Ffffff!” he seethed as he shut his eyes and clutched his freshly-stitched arm.

Mina gasped and covered her mouth with her stubby paws as the Lucario writhed in discomfort in front of her. “Oh dear! I take it the feeling has returned in your right arm?” she squeaked. Viggo nodded as he continued to grit his teeth, prompting the Audino to grab a jar full of white cream from the cupboard. “No worries! I’ve got the numbing cream!” she told him as she quickly opened the jar and dipped her paw inside, taking a little to spread it over the area of his gash. After she applied it, it only took a few seconds for Viggo’s arm to start feeling numb again, so he let go of it as the pain started to subside for the time being. After wrapping his arm in some gauze and bandages, Mina stepped back to admire her handiwork. “Hmm… Not a bad job if I do say so myself~! Though the Luminous Water _did_ help a bit I suppose~,” she chuckled.

“Thanks for patching me up, Mina,” he said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Don’t mention it, hon! Alright then, don’t go exerting that arm too much for the next few days until your treatments are complete. We don’t want it opening back up again,” Mina told him sternly. The Lucario just gave her an exasperated roll of his head as he leaned back a little. “I mean it, Mister! I know how reckless you can get…” she huffed.

“Seriously, you don’t need to worry!” he retorted as he put his tunic and armor back on.

“Experience has told me otherwise, but sure… You’re good to go, hon. And do be careful on your way out!” she muttered as the Lucario stood back up. 

“Thanks again. I’ll be on my way then,” Viggo sighed as he pushed the curtain out of the way and began walking towards the exit. However, before he could leave Mina poked her head out from behind the curtain and whistled at him, causing him to pause for a moment.

“Viggo, be sure to get plenty of rest for the next few days!” she called to him.

“I will but I’m pretty certain I’ll be really busy…” he replied before carrying on.

“And _do_ remember to come back twice a day for your intermittent Heal Pulse treatments!”

“I’ll _try_ my best to remember…”

“Oh, and don’t forget to stop by the temple apothecary in the morning, they should have your pain and antibiotics capsules ready by then!”

“I got it, Ma’am! Same as always!”

“Hey now, don’t give me that attitude! I’ve had to remind you about those things ever since you were little!” she chortled.

By that point, the Lucario’s ears were burning hotter than a Charizard’s tail. “Okay, okay! Bye now! Thanks for everything, you’re a miracle worker! Gotta go!” he told her as he quickly darted through the curtain. Within a few moments Viggo was halfway to the infirmary’s door, and he just so happened to be walking at a pace that Mina wouldn’t be able to keep up with.

“Don’t forget, ya little punk— I don’t care how tough you think you are! You need to take your recovery seriously!” the Audino called after him as she stuck her head out of the curtain. “I BETTER SEE YOU BACK HERE ON TIME FOR YOUR TREATMENTS! I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!” she shouted as Viggo darted out of the infirmary and slammed the door closed.

The infirmary went quiet for a few moments as Mina’s surprisingly stern words of warning reverberated off the walls. A couple of nurses had just turned up to her vicinity with a fresh patient, a Manectric who had been groaning and moaning in pain a minute before but was now simply laying on the stretcher in stunned silence.

“Uh… Nurse Mina? Is everything alright?” one of the other nurses asked.

“Hmm! Just peachy!” she giggled in response as she then looked down to the new patient. “Well then, let’s get this one some treatment!” she cooed. As he was transferred to his cot, the patient gave the two nurses that had brought him there a worried look, while they simply chuckled and waved off his apparent concern, as they knew he was in good hands.

* * *

After navigating the tall, circular passages of the temple, Viggo found himself walking into the central sanctuary of Auraciel. The thick pillars that held up the high, vaulted ceiling cast ominous shadows in the dim light of the several oil lamps and braziers that were scattered around the room.

The level of activity wasn’t quite comparable to the infirmary, but it was still busier than usual at this time of night. Other than a few residents walking around and talking to each other, nervously chattering about that night’s worrying developments, there were a couple Guardians stationed within the chamber to keep the peace. While most of the temple residents were already asleep, the news of the Void attack and discovery of a Mystery Dungeon was spreading quickly and would reach the entirety of Auraciel’s inhabitants’ ears by morning. It was only a matter of time before panic set in, and Viggo knew that he would have to do his best to keep everyone calm and united through the uncertain times ahead— no matter how long they were fated to last.

“Oh, you’re back, Captain!”

A familiar voice brought him out of his head and into the present moment. He looked up and saw Sonia approaching him with a tired yet relieved smile, the Bayleef looking quite knackered overall. The Lucario smiled back at her, happy that she seemed to be doing just fine after the battle. “Ah, there you are, Sonia. Good to see you’re doing alright,” he replied before tilting his head inquisitively. “Did your vines grow back yet?” he asked, curious to know how fast they would regenerate after she had bitten them off during the fight in order to stop the Shadow Matter from sticking to her.

The Bayleef responded by unraveling both of them, looking good as new. “Present and accounted for!” she chuckled as she waved them around a bit.

“Good to know! Well I have to say, I was quite impressed by your chops out there. You led your battalion into battle with flying colors,” Viggo told her, which in turn made her cheeks glow slightly red.

“Thanks but, like I said I really had no choice but to rise to the occasion. It was do or die, you know? All of us were caught off guard when we came across those Voids…” she murmured bashfully as she rubbed the back of her head with one of her vines. “Besides, every single Guardian out there was giving it their all! I could never take all the credit…” she added.

“For sure, I’ll have to treat you all to some drinks in Zephyros. As soon as this mess is taken care of, of course…” the Lucario chuckled.

“That does sound fun indeed! Might I ask what the occasion is?” another familiar voice asked, Viggo glancing to the side to see Miron approaching him. The Medicham was wearing a resilient smile despite the bruises and tattered black cloak covering his body. He chuckled at the Lucario before covertly opening up a link between their minds with his telepathy. _“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”_ he inquired cheekily.

_“Ugh… As if you had to ask…”_ the Lucario thought as Miron stifled a snort of laughter.

Standing awkwardly in the middle of the two, Sonia raised an eyebrow at the Medicham’s abrupt entrance and cleared her throat to get both of their attention. “Oh its you, Miron. Viggo was just suggesting that we all go out for some fun after this incident is cleared up. Maybe you could even tag along! After all, you did have a hand in defending Auraciel against the Voids just like the rest of the Guardians that were there,” she commented.

Miron quickly turned to her and made a flourish with his hand. “Ah, so it’s a celebratory affair, then? My mistake, I thought it was for another reason…” he chuckled, placing his hand on the Lucario’s right shoulder in a friendly fashion.

“NGH!” Viggo grunted in pain, prompting Miron to quickly withdraw his arm and offer an apologetic smile. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Captain!” he said, trying to hold back another laugh.

“Geez, Miron! For a Psychic-type you’re really bad at reading the atmosphere…” Viggo whispered harshly as he rubbed his shoulder and glared daggers at the nosy Medicham.

“Oh, is that what you think?” the Medicham replied mischievously, meeting the Lucario’s glare with a sly grin of his own.

“Alright you two…” Sonia murmured in annoyance. “What’s with all the shifty whispers? I’m starting to feel like _I’m_ the third wheel here…”

“Eh, its nothing, Sonia. Miron’s just doing what he does best…” Viggo snorted.

“Livening things up?” the Medicham in question chortled.

“No, more like sticking your nose into everything just to spread gossip.”

“Ah ha ha! Nonsense! I just came over to see how both of you were doing after all the action, that’s all. I wouldn’t have wanted our revered Guardian Captain and his lovely protégé getting hurt,” the Medicham replied dramatically as Sonia wore a puzzled expression.

“Er… What’s a protégé?” she murmured in confusion, but Miron simply carried on with his retelling of events.

“I did my best against those fiendish Voids, but they were able to outlast me in the end. All I remember is using my final attack and then fainting, but I was told that you and young Eli did your best to defend my unconscious body while fighting against the Voids at the same time… I’d expect nothing less from you, Viggo. Its impressive, it truly is!” he said. “Of course, the same goes for you, Miss Sonia. From what I heard the boys might’ve been done for if you hadn’t shown up in time…” he added as he bowed to the Bayleef, causing her to chuckle and shake her head modestly.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do much without my backup, honestly.”

“Alright, well as much as I’d like to keep the complimentary support-circle going, we’re not out of the woods yet and I have business to attend to with the Sage,” Viggo remarked before turning to the Bayleef. “He’s going to want to know everything that happened and I’ll need you there with me, Sonia,” he told her.

“Oh! Yeah, about that…” Sonia murmured sheepishly. “I already talked with him while you were in the infirmary…”

The Lucario’s eyes widened and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. “Wait…. WHAT?!” he gasped sharply, turning a few heads nearby. His tone took both Sonia and Miron off guard and they both flinched in response. They were unsure as to why he would react in such a way, especially Sonia. Viggo seemed to notice the sudden increase of eyes upon him so he did his best to regain his composure.

“Is there… Something wrong with that, Captain?” Sonia asked, sounding worried and confused. “You recall giving me permission to take on your responsibilities in your stead in the event that you were incapacitated, don’t you?”

“Er, yes! Yes, of course I remember!” Viggo coughed as his face seemed a bit flush. “I just, uh, thought that I’d…” he began but was cut off by the Bayleef suddenly gasping.

“No! No, you’re right! Crap! That _was_ probably a bad move, huh?!” she whimpered, causing Viggo to tilt his head in confusion.

“N-no wait, I never said it was a bad move!” he replied in an attempt to calm her down.

“I should’ve waited until I heard from you again so that we could get all the facts straight. He could already be making plans to counter the Voids, and he doesn’t have the whole story! He only heard my side of things, he hasn’t heard what you, Eli, and Miron went through yet! You were taken away by the medics before we could really talk about what happened, and for all I know you guys could’ve found out something really important and I… never… told the… Saaaaaaaaage…” she whined, slowly fading as she closed her eyes and began falling towards the floor, alarming both Viggo and Miron.

“Geez, get a hold of yourself, Sonia!” Viggo told her as he instinctively caught her and held her steady. “Remember. You’re strong, aren’t you? You just fought off hordes of Voids earlier without breaking a sweat. Don’t let a little oversight like that take you out of the game,” he reassured her as her eyes flickered back open. As she opened her eyes again, Sonia found herself staring straight into the Lucario’s green eyes. She held her gaze for a few moments before blushing and quickly looking away, nearly falling onto the floor again.

“I-I’m fine, thanks!” she stammered as she brought out her vines and rashly pushed Viggo and Miron away. The two of them fell to the ground in a pile, grunting and yelping in pain while the Bayleef winced and covered her mouth with her vines. “Uuh… S-sorry! I didn’t mean to push you guys so hard!” she whimpered.

Miron was the first to stand back up, and he started to chuckle while pulling Viggo back to his feet beside him. “You see, Guardian? The Captain’s right, you don’t know your own strength!” he laughed while Viggo groaned and nodded.

A small smile appeared on the Lucario’s face as he looked to Sonia. “Not to worry, Sonia. It’s all good! I was just a tad surprised at how naturally you came to the conclusion to inform the Sage in my stead,” he told her

“Great, I’m so glad you understand, Captain~! What a relief!” she chuckled in response. “Now that I think about it, I kind of got to experience what it might be like to be Captain someday, if only for a little while… And GOSH is it stressful!” she sighed.

“Heh, for sure… Anyway, I’m sorry for reacting the way I did initially. I didn’t mean to make you worry. Its been a long night and I’ve got a lot on my mind,” the Lucario replied. “After I caught Eli sneaking back into the temple, I had an argument with him and we didn’t end it on the best of terms. Then the Void attack happened, and… Yeah, I might not look it but I’m really not in the best of spirits right now.”

“I understand completely, Captain. I was probably just too excited about the whole situation and could’ve waited a little longer to talk to the Sage with you. I mean its not like you were unconscious or missing or anything like that. I told him everything that we discussed beforehand about the Mystery Dungeon and its location before you were taken to the infirmary, so you might still have to fill in a few blanks for him,” the Bayleef replied.

“Like I said before, its fine,” Viggo reassured her. “At any rate, I should get going so I can report to the Sage. Since you already informed him on your side of things, go ahead and return to your quarters to rest up. Things are no doubt going to be lively around here for a while and I’ll need you to be performing in top condition.”

The Bayleef smiled and nodded back to him as she yawned. “Sounds good to me. I wish you luck with the Sage… Oh, and with patching things up with Eli as well,” she chuckled lightly.

The Lucario was about to reply when a sudden commotion directed his attention towards the front of the room.

“Alright, _alright_ I’m walking! Ngh, watch it! You don’t have to be so rough…”

“Speak of the devil…” Viggo sighed as he turned towards the front of the sanctuary to see the Riolu in question being escorted rather roughly by two other Lucario holding him by his arms.

“I mean really, you guys _have_ to be kidding me! Why won’t you let me leave?!” he barked defiantly while his handlers pushed him forward.

“Kid, are you nuts? You can’t just go running off into the night while Voids are still at large, that’s insane! Besides, we had orders to keep _you_ here in particular…” one of the Lucario calmly explained, despite sounding quite exhausted with the whelp already.

The last part of the Guardian’s explanation made the Riolu’s eyes widen in surprise. At least, until he realized that he was indeed hearing the Lucario’s words correctly. His magenta eyes then began to narrow as he glowered at both of his minders. “Orders..? From who, exactly?” he growled as his fur began to bristle.

“Guess, Eli…”

The Riolu looked ahead and saw Viggo approaching him with Sonia and Miron not far behind, the Guardian Captain appearing only slightly as smug as he was expecting him to. However, that was probably only due to the pain he was feeling in his arm. He glared at the Lucario rather angrily at first, but his defiant expression soon withered into one of bitter resentment.

“Tch. Viggo… Even after I helped you, ya go and snitch on me anyways!”

“Oh come on. This isn’t the time to argue over petty crap like this,” Viggo groaned before nodding to the two Lucario who had escorted Eli. “Thanks for the help you two. You may return to your duties,” he told them. They nodded and released Eli from their grip, the young Riolu glaring daggers at them as they walked back towards the entrance. That same peeved expression remained on his face as he looked at Viggo.

“Tch. What happened to you covering for me, huh? I fought right alongside you! Stop treating me like a kid already!” he spat.

“Alright, that’s quite enough out of you. I was trying to be nice and let you go, but after the Void attack it wasn’t a secret that you were here anymore. I couldn’t just let you run off into the night after you were healed, either,” he explained, his expression quickly softening into a somewhat apologetic one. “So there you go. Before we got to the infirmary I told my Guardians to keep an eye on you and to make sure that you stayed here for the night.”

The Riolu simply rolled his eyes at him and huffed. “Oh. Well isn’t that thoughtful of you,” he muttered.

“If treating you like a kid means keeping you alive, then so be it. If anything happened to you now, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing what Audrey sacrificed to save you.”

After hearing those words, the young Riolu grit his teeth and clenched his fists, but the indignant wave of anger he could feel welling up inside him quickly evaporated, escaping his body in a beleaguered sigh. “Fine, I… I get it…” he murmured coldly.

“Do you really?” the Lucario huffed, earning another bitter glare from Eli.

“If it gets you to back off, then sure, _I do_.”

“Whatever. I still have a ton to do, and its almost midnight. You should go back to your room for the night, Eli. If you still intend on doing so, you can leave first thing in the morning if the coast is clear. I won’t stop you anymore,” Viggo explained.

“Well, that’s better than nothing at least…” Eli sighed with a shrug.

“It’s the best deal you’re going to get for now, so watch it,” the Lucario huffed as he side-eyed the young Riolu.

“Ahem! Before you boys get too carried away…” a voice suddenly said from behind them. Eli, Viggo, Miron, and Sonia all turned to find an elderly Lucario standing just behind them holding an ornate wooden staff at his side. His faded blue fur was slightly unkempt and blotted with darker spots around his body, and he had wild streaks of overgrown white fur around his muzzle. “I’d like to speak with the both of you,” he murmured ominously.

“Sage…” Viggo addressed him while bowing slightly.

“Aaaaah, _shit_ …” Eli cussed under his breath as he smacked a paw against his face.

“My word, it’s you! Good evening, Sage!” Sonia quickly said, bowing her head slightly towards the grizzled old Lucario.

“How do you do, my dear Sage? I swear I’m never able to sense you until you’re right up on me…” Miron remarked with a chuckle. “You must be one of the most skilled, powerful—.”

“Oh cut the crap, Miron. As if you even need to ask how I’m doing. I’m not in the mood for your prattle right now. Though I _must_ admit that I’m relieved to see that you’re doing well,” the Sage muttered with a hint of distaste as he turned to look the Medicham square in the face with his stern old eyes. “Now get lost, will you?” he growled grumpily. 

“Ah, right… W-well, I’ll see you around, everyone! Good night and stay safe!” Miron gulped as he promptly took his leave.

“As for you, young lady…” he murmured, causing the Bayleef to stand at attention.

“Uh, y-yes, Sage?” she asked nervously.

“You look like you’re about to collapse. Your blockhead of a Captain hasn’t been running you ragged, has he?” he asked, making Sonia even more nervous as Viggo simply rolled his eyes.

“Oh, n-not at all, sir! It’s just b-been a long night…” she sighed.

“Alright then. Why don’t you turn in for a spell? I have some business to discuss with Captain Blockhead and the hellion here,” the old Lucario suggested as he turned back to look at Viggo and Eli, causing the both of them to stiffen up while sweat started to trickle down their heads.

“Yes, I was just about to, sir! Thank you, I’ll be taking my leave now,” she replied with a bow before turning tail towards one of the hallways that led to the dormitories. As she got to the hallway, she quickly glanced back at Eli and Viggo and mouthed the words “good luck” to them before darting out of sight.

Both Fighting-types exchanged worried looks under the Sage’s stern gaze, wondering what he could have in store for them. Viggo gulped as he understood fully well that Sonia didn’t wish him and Eli luck for nothing.

* * *

Minutes later, Eli and Viggo had been led up near the top of the temple and were both standing within the musty, dust-choked domain of the Sage. The door had been shut behind them, locking out any fresh air that could circulate inside to potentially alleviate the suffocating atmosphere of the Sage’s chambers. A combination of light from numerous candles, oil lamps and moonlight streaming through the large, open window opposite the door illuminated the room, which was crammed to capacity with buckling bookshelves and towering stacks of tomes, scrolls, and loose paper scattered all over several tables as well as the floor. On top of one of the bookshelves, there stood a small perch with a small and stout, gray-feathered, bird-like Pokémon known as a Pidove sitting on it, snoozing away even as the Sage his two visitors entered the room. The Riolu and Lucario stood side-by-side before a large, circular cushion, in the center of what was perhaps the only plot of free space they could find amongst the clutter.

The Sage had just sat down on the cushion, groaning as his old bones creaked and he did his best to get comfortable. He grasped the top of his staff and stroked the frayed white fur on his muzzle as he closed his eyes and propped up his chin with his paw. An awkward silence fell for a few moments as Eli and Viggo both stared at the old Lucario, before glancing briefly at each other, and then back to him again. The tension in the air was noticeably high, but despite this Viggo seemed to be the first one willing to break the silence.

“So… What did you need to talk to us about, Sage?” he asked, but the older Lucario didn’t open his eyes and remained still. “Um… Sage Linus?” he asked again, but still no answer. Both Eli and Viggo began to sweat as they didn’t see any movement from the Sage at all, and they were starting to assume the worst.

“Hey, don’t tell me he…” Eli gulped, just before a loud snore rumbled out of the near-motionless Lucario.

“Ah, so he just fell asleep. Makes sense, I never really talk to him this late at night and he’d probably already be fast asleep by now otherwise,” Viggo murmured while rubbing his neck. “A good thing, too! I was about to check if his Aura was still there...”

“Welp, this is dumb. I’m out,” Eli sighed as he shrugged and began to turn towards the door, but Viggo sternly held him back.

“Oh no you’re not!” Viggo growled as he kept the Riolu in place. “He wanted to speak with you and you’re going to honor that. He’s the Sage, so learn some respect!” he added sternly.

“Hah! Well if you’re in such a hurry to talk to him then why don’t _you_ wake that liar up, huh?” Eli grumbled back to him.

“Listen you— Hmm?” Viggo began, but stopped once he heard Eli refer to the Sage as a liar. He sounded somewhat confused as he looked at him and tilted his head. “What exactly do you mean by that?” he asked apprehensively.

The Riolu’s expression softened a bit and he averted his eyes away from Viggo’s, groaning as he brought a paw to his own forehead. “It’s… Never mind, I shouldn’t have said anything,” he sighed, squirming under his gaze as he crossed his arms. He flashed a quick glare at Viggo before looking back to the sleeping Sage. “Its none of your beeswax anyway…” he muttered under his breath.

Viggo briefly bared his teeth and stifled a growl, quickly regaining his composure in the face of Eli’s attitude. “Fine, I won’t pry. I have no part in any business between you and the Sage,” he replied bitterly, causing Eli to stiffen up slightly. It wasn’t everyday that Viggo relented and allowed him to dodge questions like that.

“R-right,” Eli replied as he shifted uncomfortably.

“Anyway…” the Lucario huffed as he walked up to the Sage. He leaned in and wound his left arm back, clenched his paw into a fist and held it there for a moment, taking aim right at the old Lucario’s face. Eli watched in surprise as Viggo swung directly for the Sage’s exposed muzzle, only for his snoring to instantly cease as his eyes flew open. The Guardian Captain’s punch was immediately blocked by the Sage’s own paw, which sprung into action so fast that Eli thought he had missed it. Viggo’s strike was powerful enough to displace the air around his paw and send a small shockwave through the air, blowing papers in every direction and even waking up the Pidove that had been sleeping atop the bookshelf. Even so, the old Lucario effortlessly caught his strike and didn’t flinch a bit.

“Dwuh?! Huh?! H-hey, what’s going on?! S-Sage, are you okay?!” the Pidove frantically squawked as he was dazed and had no idea what had just happened.

While the Riolu stared in stunned silence, Viggo chuckled and smirked at the older Lucario who was still holding his paw at bay. “Heh! Still got it eh, Linus?” he remarked as the Sage cracked a small smile of his own.

“You’re funny, Captain,” the Sage chuckled flatly. “You’ve never landed a single blow on me, and probably never will. Not even when I’m sleeping,” he added smugly. “I suppose you could pull it off while I’m on my deathbed, but that’d just be rude.”

_“And punching you while you’re sleeping isn’t?”_ Eli thought.

“Perish the thought!” Viggo laughed as he withdrew his arm and moved it back to his side.

“Are you ignoring me, Sage?! Awk! What’s going on?! What’re they doing here?!” the Pidove cried indignantly.

“Ah, pipe down ya turkey! Everything’s fine, we were just exchanging pleasantries. I invited Captain Blockhead and his pain-in-the-ass ward here myself, so you don’t have to worry,” the Sage scoffed, causing Viggo to roll his eyes while Eli stuck his tongue out him.

“Mmmmrrrraww… Fine, fine. Wake me if you need anything else,” the Pidove warbled before quickly falling back asleep. 

“And uh… My apologies for dozing off just now. Its way past my bedtime, you know,” the Sage said, causing Eli to stifle a chuckle.

“Of course, and we both apologize for keeping you up so late,” Viggo replied as he bowed his head slightly. “Now, what exactly did you want to speak with us about? The quicker we discuss it the quicker we can all get some sleep,” he inquired, earning a tired nod from the elderly Lucario.

“You’re quite right about that. Why don’t I start with you, Captain?” he replied as he leaned forward on the cushion. “Let’s talk about what happened tonight and what we can do to get out of this rotten pickle, shall we?”

Viggo sighed and gazed past the Sage before replying. “I trust that Sonia already told you her account of the events. I don’t believe my experiences tonight would bring any valuable perspective, anyway. We were blindsided by the Voids, fought hard, and managed to drive them back with the help of Sonia. It’s as simple as that, honestly. All in all, things could’ve turned out a lot worse for Eli, Miron and I if Sonia and her patrol hadn’t shown up. I must say, she is a very promising Guardian, and I expect great things of her in the future,” the Lucario told him sincerely.

“I recognize that. And I’ll have you know that I made sure to give her the proper respect she deserved for her job well done when I spoke with her earlier,” the Sage stated as he rubbed at the fur under his chin. “However, we’ve got much bigger problems to tackle… What would you say our offensive capabilities are, Viggo?” he asked as his fluffy brows furrowed and his stare intensified. “I already have a pretty good idea of what they are, but I want your input seeing as you’re the current Captain and all.”

“Well… In terms of being able to fend off attacking Pokémon, we’ve never been better,” Viggo stated somewhat apprehensively.

“But unfortunately, we’re not talking about fighting off Pokémon, are we?” the Sage murmured. “I must be fair to your Guardians. They all did well tonight, and they were able to successfully repel the Voids away from our temple. That’s definitely worthy of commendation. However, none of you were actually able to completely _destroy_ a single Void. Not that you really could, honestly…” he explained as he bit his lower lip. “Furthermore, there’s the danger that the Voids will continue to attack Auraciel until our defenses fall and we’re overrun, along with the rest of Zephyr Island. Not to mention the fact that the Dungeon will just keep expanding and continue spawning more and more Voids to contend with as time goes on. Because the Voids actively seek out Aura to feed on, its only a matter of time until they finish feeding on the animals of the forest and eventually come for us, as well as Zephyros. That one skirmish took a lot out of your Guardians and although they’re strong, I doubt they will be able repel multiple attacks from the Voids… Especially if they’re going to be attacking night after night.”

“Basically… If we can’t get rid of the Mystery Dungeon, then we’re doomed. We can hold out for a while, but if the Voids keep spawning and we can’t permanently defeat them, we won’t be able to last long,” Viggo added as he tapped his chin.

Meanwhile, Eli was listening to the Sage’s grim assessment of their situation, his fur standing on end while his heart sank. The night’s events had all transpired so quickly, and he was already realizing how dire their effects would be on his childhood home. A shiver danced along his spine as he thought about just how much the events were reminding him of that particular incident six years ago. His eyes narrowed as he remembered the foreboding darkness of the dungeon, the chill of its unnatural air, as well as the blood-soaked dirt where a female Lucario’s drained and broken body lay only a few feet in front of him. He fought back tears and clenched his teeth, his presence shrinking until it amounted to something more comparable to a fly on the wall.

“So… What’s gonna happen?” The Riolu suddenly spoke up. Viggo and the Sage both glanced at him in surprise, perhaps forgetting that he was even there because of how quiet he had gotten. “What are you guys gonna do about it?” he asked. Both Lucario knew exactly what was going through his head, as they too were reminded of the incident from six years ago.

“I’ll handle it. Just like with everything else of this nature,” Viggo replied succinctly. “Nobody needs to fret.”

“That’s exactly what Audrey said,” Eli murmured under his breath.

“Oh for Arceus’ sake, Eli… Would you give it a rest? We can’t let what happened in the past dictate our actions in the present,” Viggo snapped at the Riolu. “Yes, what happened to Audrey was a tragedy! Nothing is going to change that! But that was _then_ , and this is _now_. I’ve worked hard ever since becoming Captain, getting our Guardians ready for anything. I’m confident that things will be different this time…”

“It’s not that I don’t think you can do it! It’s what it might cost you!” the Riolu snarled back. “Ya think I want _you_ to die, too?!”

“That doesn’t matter. Its my and every Guardian’s duty to protect Auraciel, even if it costs me everything! Audrey knew what she was doing that day and decided her own fate. She _wanted_ to protect you and everyone else. You don’t get to take that away from her, Eli!” Viggo growled sternly. “If Audrey was here, she’d—,” he began to say, but stopped as both he and Eli were startled by the sound of a wooden staff slamming against the stone floor.

“AUDREY ISN’T HERE!”

Eli and Viggo immediately stopped arguing and turned to the Sage, who was baring his fangs and glaring daggers at the both of them. They could practically feel the heat and anger radiating from the old jackal as he looked like he wanted to smack the both of them silly. “You foolish youngsters… Squabbling over what a long-dead loved-one would have said… Putting words in her mouth like she’s some cheap puppet while she’s unable to speak for herself. You should both be ashamed of yourselves.”

Viggo and Eli turned away from each other, cringing in response to the Sage’s words as they both appeared quite remorseful.

“Now… Are you two done bickering for now? We still have a lot to discuss,” the Sage muttered angrily.

“Y-yes, Sage,” Viggo replied somberly, seeming a bit paler than usual. “I deeply apologize for such behavior.”

“I guess so…” Eli grunted bitterly as he looked away from the two Lucario again. “And um, I’m sorry too.”

The Sage sighed and rubbed his forehead after they apologized. “I swear, I really should’ve spoken with you two separately,” he growled before clearing his throat. “As I was going to say… You’re right, Captain Blockhead. Things _are_ different this time. But not necessarily in a good way, mind you. In case you’ve forgotten, we’ve long since lost the only person in Auraciel with the ability to permanently destroy Voids. You might remember her. After all, you’ve both invoked her name in your petty arguments plenty of times tonight…” he added, causing Eli to squirm in discomfort while Viggo gave the slightest of nods.

“Of course, and that’s what makes this situation so thorny,” the Auracle Captain acknowledged.

“That’s the point I was trying to bring you around to; that our best hope of combating this threat ourselves is long-gone,” he told Viggo, before turning a paw over and pointing it towards him. “Which means…?” he asked while giving an expecting look.

Viggo blinked a few times and rubbed at his bandaged arm before answering. “Uh… That we’re screwed?”

“Dummy. We will be _only_ if we’re reckless and don’t think things through,” the Sage replied as he rolled his eyes. “Because we lack the offensive capabilities required to take out the Voids for good, it may be best to have the Guardians act as a purely defensive force for now, and to cease all patrols outside the walls of Auraciel after sunset.”

“Wait… Purely _defensive_? Are you sure about that, Sage?” the Lucario questioned. The Sage sat up in a little as he could tell that Viggo wasn’t too happy about his suggestion. To be fair, that didn’t surprise him one bit. “I mean, you _are_ aware of how strong the Guardians have grown under my leadership, aren’t you?” he asked, prompting the Sage to raise an eyebrow.

“Trust me; it’s better to be safe than sorry, Viggo. You know how much damage the Voids did to your Guardians and yourself tonight, right? Well that’s only the beginning. They’re going to be multiplying as we speak, and tomorrow night’s attack may very well be even worse,” he stated. “Although your principles are admirable, its foolish to risk losing Guardians in a battle that’s increasingly impossible to win.”

“Come on now. There has to be some way for us to subdue the Voids ourselves!” Viggo urged him, clenching his paws as he stared directly into the old Lucario’s seasoned eyes. “I’ll get some of my guys to research it in the archives, and then maybe—,” he began to say, but was cut off by the Sage himself as he raised a paw to silence him.

“Please, Viggo… I have the utmost respect for our Guardians, and that’s why I’m suggesting this course of action. I’d rather not take any chances with this,” he replied sternly. “You could rifle through our archives for days on end, but I promise that you won’t be able to find anything new we can use against the Voids. They’ve been researched to hell and back and at the end of the day, we’re not equipped to deal with them. I’m sure all of us here know exactly what must be done to defeat those demons for good, but the cinch is that we don’t know of _anyone_ here who has the capabilities to do so. I fully understand that you want to solve this problem yourself, but this is something that is bigger than any of us.”

Viggo went silent as Eli stood beside him, feeling somewhat bad due to how helpless he must have felt under the gaze of the Sage. “Um… Not for nothing, but… Don’t we have a large supply of Luminous Water?” Eli interjected, getting the attention of both Lucario. “I mean, we’re able to use it to dissolve Shadow Matter, right? Why can’t we use it to kill the Voids?” he asked, earning a groan from the Sage while Viggo simply shook his head.

“Nah… That won’t work either, Eli,” Viggo replied. “Luminous Water might be effective in temporarily deterring them, but its not enough to destroy them completely. It’ll only dissolve Shadow Matter that’s already been separated from a Void, like what we had on us earlier,” he explained as Eli’s subtle smirk began to fade. “You’d have to completely drown a Void in Luminous Water for it to have any lethal effect on them. Besides, we don’t have enough for something like that and we need to conserve what we do have for anyone unlucky enough to get Shadow Matter on them.”

“Yes, unfortunately its just too watered down to be that effective… No pun intended…” the Sage added.

“Oh… Well, I tried…” Eli murmured with a shrug.

“Hmph… Its fine. No offense, but I never really expected you to be a tactician of any merit in the first place anyway,” the Sage grumbled.

“Linus, I…” Viggo sighed, before shaking his head and crossing his arms. “I see. I get what you’re saying, it’s just…”

“Likewise, son. You have the qualities of a true Guardian; a great big heart and the desire to protect those you care about. You want to defend this place and everyone in it with your life, don’t you? That’s why I wanted you to be my successor. However, you must remember that this isn’t about egos or records. Its about the wellbeing of those who have entrusted their safety to you…” the old Lucario reminded him. “Am I right, or am I right?”

“Well when you put it like _that_ …” Viggo murmured as his ears lowered. “I’d say you’re right.”

“Heh! You’re the Captain of the Auracle Guardians, Viggo. Just figured I’d give you a bit of advice since I have lots of experience being one in the past as well. At the end of the day, you’re free to order them about as you like. I just hope that you make smart choices despite your general blockheadedness, that’s all…”

“Ugh… Why do you always have to be so passive-aggressive with your advice?” Viggo grumbled.

“Well, regardless of what you decide to do, I’m writing to Mayor Cecil in Zephyros immediately to fill him in on the situation. This is definitely going to affect him and the rest of town as well, not to mention there’s the Springtide Festival in a few days. He won’t stand for endangering his citizens or the tourists that are sure to flock to our island, so the quicker we get rid of the Voids the better. Any way you look at it, we’re going to need outside help.” The old Lucario then reached to the side of the cushion and pulled a smooth, wooden board onto his lap along with a small wood utensil that had three loops and a grip. He took out a pen and slid it into a slot on the utensil while also putting the three digits on his right paw through the loops, holding the grip tight. He reached over and yanked a blank sheet of paper from one of the piles surrounding him before placing the tip of his pen down to start writing.

“Er, sorry for doubting your judgment yet again, but… What exactly do you think the garrison at Zephyros could do against a horde of Voids?”

“Yeah, I have to agree,” Eli suddenly remarked, getting Viggo’s attention. “They’re not exactly the cream of the crop. Heck, I can outrun most of them without even trying! If the Guardians can’t destroy the Voids then there’s no way that Zephyros’s guards are gonna have a better time of it,” he explained brashly.

“Wait… Why were you running away from the guards, Eli?” Viggo asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” the Riolu quickly replied.

“You know, whenever you say that it just makes me worry even more,” the Lucario grumbled while Eli snickered to himself.

“Ahem! For your information, I wasn’t talking about Zephyros’s guards,” the Sage elaborated as he continued to write, getting both of their attention again. “Ol’ Cecil just so happens to have some very beneficial connections in the Far Realms. He told me over coffee once.”

Eli’s ears suddenly perked up at the mention of the Far Realms, his eyes widening in surprise as he looked to the Sage. “Wait… The Far Realms? Are you sure?” he asked him rather eagerly. This eagerness was detected by Viggo, who looked back and forth between the Sage and the intrigued young Riolu.

The Sage leaned back on his cushion and stuck one of his digits inside his ear, digging around absentmindedly as he rolled his eyes and sighed at the younger Fighting-types. “Of course I am, kid! Just cause I’m old doesn’t mean I’m hard of hearing or senile or something…” he retorted.

“Just what kind of connections does he have there? I never heard about that side of him while I was in Zephyros…” Eli stated as he scratched his cheek in thought.

“Well, let’s just say that he might have access to exactly what we’re looking for,” the Sage explained cryptically.

“That’s all fine and dandy, but… How can you be sure he’ll be able to make good on those connections?” Viggo asked, not sounding very convinced of the Sage’s plan.

“Hmph! There you go again, doubting your wise, benevolent Sage,” the old Lucario snorted as he removed the wooden utensil from his paw and placed it along with the pen to the side.

“Hey, I just want things to go as smoothly as possible! Sue me!” Viggo huffed while the Sage simply chuckled in response.

“Rest assured, Captain. I know Cecil very well, and believe me when I say that we can count on him to deliver. Sure, it might require a bit of compensation on my part down the line; _I can already see a grand, all-expenses-paid-for banquet in my future…_ But, I’m certain that it’ll all be worth it,” he explained with a cheeky grin. “Remember, this is sure to affect him and Zephyros as well, so he’s not bound to be a bystander in this crisis anyway. Its best that we reach out to him sooner rather than later so that we can put our heads together and find a way out of this jam as quickly as possible.”

“Right… I can agree with that,” Viggo sighed as he nodded slowly. “So that’s the plan. I’ll have the Guardians bolster our defenses while you inform Mayor Cecil about the situation. Then, we’ll all just have to wait and see what he can do for us,” he explained as the Sage promptly rolled up his letter and held it above his head.

“Seems as good a plan as we can muster right now, Captain. I might not be in charge of Auraciel’s defense anymore, but I’d like to think I still have a few tricks up my sleeve…” he mused while waving his letter back and forth. “Hey. Heeey, Toft… Wake up, Toft!” he yelled, waking up the Pidove in the corner yet again.

“GWAWK! Wha?! What is it, Sage?!” the disoriented Pidove squawked.

“Here,” the Sage said as he held the letter aloft. “Deliver this to Mayor Cecil, pronto,” he ordered Toft, who shook his head free of drowsiness and fluttered over to grab the parchment with his talons.

“R-right away, Sage! I’ll see that it gets to him in one piece!” the Flying-type cooed, saluting the Sage with a wing.

“Oh, and Toft…” the old Lucario added, getting the Pidove’s attention just as he was about to leave. “Keep your guard up, will you? There are sure to be foul forces at work tonight…” he warned him. Toft gulped and nodded back to the Sage before taking flight, fluttering out of the large window and into the night sky with the letter in tow.

“Well, that takes care of that,” the Sage sighed as he put the wooden board and utensil to the side. “Alright then, Captain. From this point forward, I’m entrusting the defense of Auraciel to you and the Guardians. I have complete faith that you can handle it,” he told him as he gave a small nod.

“Thanks, Linus. That means a lot coming from you,” Viggo replied as he gave a slight bow. “I’ll inform the rest of the Guardians about our plan and get things moving as soon as I can.”

“Excellent. Go do that and get some shuteye. I’ll be doing the same pretty soon… That is, _after_ I have a little chat with the young one here,” the Sage replied before glaring over at Eli, who visibly tensed up as the Sage’s soft yet somehow intense stare was now focused on him.

“Fine, fine. I’ll take my leave, then. Goodnight, Linus!” Viggo sighed, turning to leave but pausing briefly just to give the Riolu a stern glare. Eli responded by giving him the stink-eye, eliciting an annoyed groan from the tired Lucario as he walked past him and exited through the door.

The sound of the door shutting echoed throughout the Sage’s chamber, highlighting the awkward silence that followed while Eli and the elderly Lucario stared each other down. A light, ocean breeze blew in through the open window, causing its wood and glass panels to shudder ever so slightly. It was the only sound that cut through the quiet atmosphere of the cluttered room as it ruffled the Riolu and Lucario’s fur. After a solid minute of nothing but silence and tense glaring had passed, the Sage sighed and finally closed his eyes.

“Erherm… I suppose you have more than a few questions for me, kid,” the Sage muttered as he relaxed his arm and laid his staff across his lap. Although the elderly Lucario was gently trying to deescalate the tension between him and Eli, the Riolu was still glaring at him quite intensely. He could sense the angst and distrust radiating from the young Riolu’s Aura, but even then it didn’t take an Auracle to tell what he was feeling. “What? Don’t you want to talk to me?” the Sage asked him.

The Riolu seemed to soften up just a bit as he let out a beleaguered sigh and crossed his arms. “Well if I’m being honest, I didn’t exactly come back just to be dragged to your lair for a lecture,” the Riolu scoffed.

“No lectures here. Just a real, man-to-man talk, Elias…” the Sage told him, the Riolu’s eyes opening a bit more as his arms fell to his sides. Upon seeing this reaction, the old Lucario smirked and gave the youngster an encouraging nod. “Now… I bet you’d like to continue our conversation that was cut short a month ago, wouldn’t you?” 

At this point, it seemed as if Eli’s defensive walls were slowly but surely crumbling under the seasoned scrutiny of the Sage. He balled his paws into fists and clenched hard, his ears flattening as his bitter expression softened into something more melancholy and vulnerable. He could feel his ears heating up as his earlier resolve he showed in the face of both Viggo and the Sage was starting to wane. However, he knew he couldn’t break down so easily in front of the Sage. He had to buck up and have the conversation with him that he had been avoiding for the past month. Things had changed since then, and his time living on his own in Zephyros had certainly changed him as well.

Eli raised his head and swallowed, looking the Sage directly in the eye once again. At first, he nodded slowly without saying anything, unable to form any words that would move the conversation forward. He relaxed his fists and tried to regain his composure, taking a deep breath as another gust of salty sea air entered the room, reminding him of the future that lay ahead of him and why he had to have this conversation in the first place. It was time to stop running, and he was hoping that the Sage could provide the answers he was looking for.

“Why did you lie to me for all these years?” he finally asked. “You knew who my father was all along.”

The Sage kept silent for a few moments before letting out a sigh. “Eli… When you get older, you’ll realize that you have to make tough decisions on what to tell, and what _not_ to tell those you care about,” he explained delicately.

“Oh, please. That’s your answer? You lied to me because you _cared_ about me?” the Riolu growled, trembling slightly.

“Yes, although you’ll probably doubt it, I made that decision in order to help you.”

“How the hell does that help me, Sage?! You know how confused I was for all those years! I never knew my parents and had no idea what happened to them, or why they left me on this island in the first place. You knew the truth all along and never told me!”

“Calm down, Eli! Don’t get ahead of yourself, you hear me?” the Sage snapped back. “You don’t know the details of what happened when Audrey and I met your father.”

“So then why don’t you tell me? Right now…” Eli murmured angrily.

“Hmph. You know, I was going to get to that when we started this conversation before, but you stormed off before I could tell you…” the old Lucario groaned.

“Whatever… I’m ready to listen now, so you can go ahead and tell me,” the Riolu huffed.

“Very well, then. Sit down,” he ordered, shutting his eyes as Eli took a seat on the floor and crossed his legs. “I’ll warn you that some of the things I’m going to tell you may be difficult for you to hear, so I’ll be sure to give you time to process everything as I go along,” the Lucario added softly with his eyes still closed.

Eli nodded and looked at his elder with a focused and serious expression, letting him know that he was ready to listen. The Sage cleared his throat and opened one eye to make sure that the young Riolu was actually sitting on the floor before he spoke again. “Sixteen years ago, a Lucario washed up on a beach outside of Zephyros. Audrey found him lying unconscious there during one of her walks, and saw that he was clutching an egg in his arms. _Your_ egg, to be precise. She helped him regain consciousness, and brought him back to our temple where he rested up for a few days,” he explained thoroughly. “Strangely, he didn’t want to divulge even the most basic information to us. Not his age, his profession, or even his name… That stood out as very suspicious to me, so I was against letting him come here. However, the Sage at that time was much more trusting, so he allowed him to stay here despite that. After a few days of prodding, Audrey managed to get at least those few things out of him. He revealed that he was a thirty year old Ranger from the Far Realms, and that his name was Ezekiel Amnael.”

“Ezekiel… Amnael?” Eli repeated slowly.

“Yeah, that was it. Now apparently that name carried a lot of clout, because Audrey told me that she was in disbelief when he uttered it. I talked privately with her about it, and from what she told me, he was once an infamous Ranger that operated in the Far Realms,” the elderly Lucario explained. 

“So he was a Ranger, huh? Audrey was once a Ranger too, wasn’t she?”

"That’s true, so its really no surprise that she knew of him before ever meeting him. However, she had never seen him in person, so it was understandably still a bit of a shock for her to find out that he was _the_ Ezekiel Amnael.”

“Well c’mon then! Tell me why he was so famous! I’ve heard a little about Rangers, and apparently there’s thousands of ‘em. Why did he stand out so much?” the Riolu inquired ardently.

“Eh… Audrey started rattling off a bunch of things that he _supposedly_ did, but I wasn’t too interested to be honest. I could never stand those larger-than-life types and most of their so-called feats tend to be bogus anyway,” the Sage grumbled.

“Hmm. You were probably just jealous…” Eli mumbled as he pursed his lips.

“Ha, in your dreams! Don’t start acting smug just because your old man’s apparently a big shot, okay?” the Lucario scoffed.

“Yeah, yeah whatever…” Eli sighed with a yawn. “Besides, I’m just messing with you, Sage. I’m not about to start looking up to the guy just because I know his name. After all, he abandoned me here without leaving even a single Poké to cover my expenses,” he huffed.

“So what, you’re saying that if he had left you some money you would’ve been more forgiving towards him?” the Sage asked as he rolled his eyes. 

“Wouldn’t have hurt…”

“Hmph. Let’s see if that smugness holds by the time I finish my story,” the Sage murmured. “On that note, I should also mention that you and your father weren’t the only ones who arrived on the island that day…”

“Huh? You mean someone else came here, too?”

“Yes, and you might’ve heard about him before… You see, the one I’m talking about was a Darkrai, and it seemed as if he and your father knew each other. He attacked the temple, but Ezekiel helped us subdue him. After their scuffle, he disappeared and hasn’t been seen since,” the Sage explained.

“Wait, wait, wait… Don’t tell me you’re talking about the same Darkrai that everyone here knows about? The one I’ve been hearing about for years?”

“Indeed, the exact same one.”

“No kidding… So it was after my father? That can’t be good,” Eli remarked quietly as he crossed his arms and shivered. “I wonder what sort of business that Darkrai could’ve had with my old man.”

“Actually, we believe that it might have been after _you_ ,” the Sage replied casually.

“HUH?!” Eli exclaimed, startling the old Lucario. “Stop joking around! Why would he be after me of all Pokémon?!” he asked, sounding quite flustered and shaken.

“Ah, _there’s_ the reaction I was expecting. I was thinking you were taking this all a little too well…” the Sage sighed as he shook his head. “Heck if I know! Sorry, but even after all these years, I still don’t have an inkling of what the Darkrai’s motivations were with you. It would’ve helped if your father was a bit more forthcoming about his past, but he instead chose to keep us all in the dark. All I care about at this point is that they ended up taking whatever was going on between them off our island. We didn’t need any more trouble to deal with anyway.”

“This story just gets worse and worse, doesn’t it?” the Riolu whimpered.

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted me to tell you all of this! I warned you that some of this would be hard to hear! If its too much for you to handle, I could always just stop.”

“No, no! D-don’t mind me, I was just thinking out loud. You can keep going...”

“Very well then. We’ve looked into it over the years and thankfully the Darkrai seems to have left quite a while ago— most likely along with Ezekiel. Ergo, we don’t believe that he still poses any sort of threat to us or you,” the Lucario said with a shrug. “Aaaaand that’s pretty much it. After that bit of excitement your father just left the island abruptly. Conveniently just before you hatched,” he muttered in distaste.

“Well at least there isn’t a Darkrai hunting me now. Did he say anything else before he left?” Eli asked, having seemingly calmed down.

“Hmm? Oh, right! He did say one last thing to us,” the Sage remarked as Eli perked up his ears. “Before he left for good, he mentioned that he wanted to name you Elias. And so… we did.”

“Oh… Okay then,” the Riolu murmured in disappointment. “Really? Nothing else?” he groaned.

“Gee, what did you want, kid?” the Sage scoffed as he started to dig inside his ear again. “A map to his location? A prophecy? The key to your inheritance?”

“W-well not exactly, but… Like… I wanted _something_ at the very least,” Eli sighed glumly. “I kinda feel like I have more questions than answers now…”

“Hmph. Such is life,” the Sage sighed. “Although, now that I’m thinking about all of this again… There _was_ one thing Audrey told me that made me take things more seriously,” the Lucario admitted. “And it’s what prompted Audrey and I to keep your family name hidden from you for so long. You see, Eli… Audrey informed me that the Amnael name is considered cursed in the Far Realms.”

“Huh?! Ya know that definitely counts as _something_ , right?!”

“Oh I’m sorry, my mistake! It must have slipped my mind. But don’t mind me, I’m just a _tad_ exhausted from staying up way past my bedtime so I can deal with an imminent invasion of Voids on our home while taking the time to talk to your troublesome self about your real name and father, _that’s all_ …” the old Sage groaned.

Eli was about to levy a retort back at the annoyed Lucario, but instead held his tongue after processing his words. “Point taken.”

“Darn straight. But back to what I was saying, apparently the Amnael family name holds some sort of significance that I’m unfortunately not privy to. And that’s aside from the fact that your father was a famous Ranger,” the Sage clarified.

“So, the Amnael name on its own is infamous for some reason, huh? You really don’t have any leads?” the Riolu grunted as he cocked and scratched his head.

“How should I know?” the Sage grumbled grumpily. “For what its worth, I did try to press Audrey on the subject a bit more, but she said it was best I didn’t know. I also consulted our archives for any information on them, but I couldn’t find anything there either,” he added.

“Wow. I never thought that there could be that much of a fuss over a name,” Eli remarked.

“And that’s what really got to me. Listen, kid… Audrey and I withheld that name from you for good reason—, so that you wouldn’t bring trouble to us, and that you wouldn’t go looking for it,” the Sage sternly told him. “We wanted to wait until you were old enough to handle the truth, but judging from your behavior I still might’ve told you everything too early,” he elaborated, blinking slowly as Eli stared back at him with a mischievous smirk. “And I’m just now realizing that I might’ve made a grave mistake.”

“Nonsense, Sage! I can handle it. You can definitely count on me to keep this all on the down-low,” Eli replied.

“Well now that I’ve just told you everything, it can’t really be helped,” the Lucario grumbled. “But seriously, kid. I’m not quite sure what the full implications of the Amnael name are myself, but from the way Audrey acted when it was uttered, I can deduce that its probably not good. I just hope that you’ll act responsibly with the knowledge I’ve given you,” he explained as he sharply jabbed a digit towards the Riolu. “For starters, I wouldn’t go blabbing about your last name in public. Something tells me that’ll only bring more unwanted attention and trouble to you that no one needs.”

“No surprise there. Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to keep it a secret,” the Riolu remarked with a yawn.

“I mean it, Eli,” the Sage reiterated firmly. “Also, you should try to focus more on your studies and training to become a Guardian. I understand it may not be your preferred lifestyle, but we can at least keep you safe on this island. Then, if you become an Auracle Guardian you can play a crucial role in our society, which in turn will help you become more respected and accepted by your peers— something I know you’ve had trouble with in the past,” he continued, leaning forward while looking into the young jackal’s tired eyes. “Now _that’d_ be something you’d want, correct?”

Eli exhaled and looked away from the Sage, squirming in place a bit as he was still processing everything that he’d been told so far. “Maybe…” he ended up responding, albeit in a somewhat passive-aggressive manner. “I might have to think about that a little more,” he added as he placed his paws on his knees.

“Eli…” the Sage sighed, almost as if he was expecting such an answer.

“Sage, I…” Eli began, but quieted down for a few moments before continuing. “I’ll be honest with you. What you’ve told me tonight changes things. I really have a lot to think about now. I don’t wanna make any promises, but I’ll be sure to take your words into account,” he finally replied reluctantly.

“Well that’s better than nothing I suppose,” the old Lucario snorted. “I know it’s a lot to take in, especially after such a tumultuous series of events. I may be stubborn as a mule, but I recognize that you are as well. I get that I can try to influence you as much as I can, but in the end I know that you’re going to do what you want. However, I fully expect you to return here relatively soon in order to continue your Auracle training. Perhaps you can finally awaken your true potential with a little more time under Viggo’s tutelage,” he said as he stroked his beard once again. “But enough about that; was there anything else you wanted to talk about before we call it a night?” he asked as he closed his eyes. The room fell silent for a few moments, prompting the elderly jackal to open his eyes again. He saw Eli sitting in front of him as expected, but he harbored a distant look in his eyes, one that the Sage hadn’t seen often. “What are you thinking, kid? You look like you wanna say something…” 

“Huh? Oh, it’s just…” Eli began, his voice wavering a bit as his confident exterior faltered briefly. “For years I’ve been hearing rumors from the adults and elders about what happened when I was left here by my father, but I never wanted to believe them. But from what you’ve told me, it seems like they were true all along.”

“If you knew, then why are you still surprised?”

“Oh no, its not that I’m surprised. I’m just kinda disappointed, that’s all,” the young Riolu sighed. “I was hoping that things had gone differently than what I was hearing— just slightly even. I expected my father to care at least a little about leaving me here, but… That wasn’t the case, was it?”

“I see what you’re saying. If its any consolation, we were all quite shocked by his sudden departure as well. He didn’t tell any of us at the temple that he was planning on leaving so soon, and we all thought that he would stay a bit longer at least just to take care of you for a while after you hatched,” the Sage explained. “And although he kind of just dumped you on us without warning, what were our other options? We briefly discussed giving you to the orphanage in Zephyros, but… Without our guidance I realize that you might’ve turned out to be an even bigger public menace than you are already,” he added with a slight chuckle. “But no, we weren’t about to do the same to you, so we took you into our fold and raised you as one of us… Admittedly with mixed results.”

“Heh… I mean… Thanks for that, I guess,” Eli murmured coyly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well you don’t have to lay it on so thick, kid.”

“Hey, I’m trying to get better at this kind of stuff, okay?”

“I mean I didn’t ask for it, so don’t overexert yourself on my behalf,” the Lucario mumbled. “But if you insist, I’ll humbly accept your gratitude— however stingy you might be with it…”

“Sure, but… Can I ask you one last thing, Sage?” the Riolu asked. “I can’t help but notice that you haven’t brought up my Mom at all. What happened to her?” the Riolu asked with a solemn twinge in his voice. “Do you know anything about her? Did my father tell you anything at all?”

“Hmm… No, unfortunately. Like I said, your father arrived alone with your egg on Zephyr Island. I did inquire about your mother, but Ezekiel wouldn’t spill no matter how much we asked…”

“Oh…” Eli sighed. “I see. That’s alright; I just wanted to know what she’s like…”

“Hrm?”

“I’ve always wondered if she would want me more than he did, but I guess I’m not likely to find out anytime soon, huh?”

“Sadly that looks to be the case. Sorry, kid,” the Lucario replied softly.

“Don’t worry about it, Sage. Thanks for telling me what you could,” Eli murmured quietly as he started to stand up again. “I’ll admit I’m still a little sore that you kept that stuff from me for all these years, but I think I can forgive you since you were nice enough to fill me in on everything you knew.”

“Well I had to tell you all of that eventually. And you know, I hate to say it but you sort of made me think of Ezekiel when you took off all of a sudden last month,” the Sage chuckled. “That definitely made me worry, but I guess I should’ve expected something like that from his son,” he sighed.

“Oh yeah, at first I wanted to say sorry for that, but now that I think about it, being on my own for a while actually did some good for me. And what’s more, now that I know my father’s name, I have a pretty good idea for what I should do next,” the Riolu explained with a scheming grin.

“That’s fine and all but… Er, wait a second. What you should do next? What do you mean by that?”

“Uh… No reason! Don’t worry about it…”

“Um, no. _No no no_. No no NO, Eli! You’re not thinking of looking for trouble, are you? What did I just get done telling you?!” the old Lucario grunted as he jumped to his feet.

“Jeez, relax! Of course I’m not!” Eli groaned while emphatically shrugging.

“You’re not being very convincing, you know.”

“Seriously, Sage! You really don’t have to worry about what I’m doing all the time…”

“Experience has told me otherwise, but suuuuuure, I’ll just take your word for it…” the Sage remarked in a patronizing tone before getting right in Eli’s face. “NOT! Listen carefully to me, Eli. I swear upon the ever-enduring spirit of Arceus that if you do anything, and I mean _anything_ stupid or selfish that endangers our temple or even this island, I’ll make sure that you regret it!”

“I get it! I get it! Would you please just give it a rest already?!” Eli growled as he reeled back from the Lucario and began to turn around to walk towards the door. 

“Alright, fine… But before I dismiss you, I have just one more thing I want to talk to you about,” the Sage told him as he leaned back up and tapped the bottom of his staff against the floor. “It shouldn’t take long.”

Eli stopped in his tracks and slowly turned back to the Sage, who was looking at him expectantly. “Ah what the hell, shoot,” he sighed as he gave another shrug.

“Tell me something, Eli… And _do_ be upfront and honest about it. What exactly are your intentions with my granddaughter?”

The Riolu suddenly tensed up and his face glowed a soft red underneath his fur. “Uhhh…” the Riolu whimpered as his eyes grew wide and his pupils shrank. “Wh-who? Lara?”

“I don’t recall having any other granddaughters.”

“R-right! Lara! Silly me, I just didn’t know why you would bring her up all of a sudden,” Eli murmured nervously as he pressed his paws together. “As for my intentions, what do you mean? I’m her good friend and we like helping each other out. That’s all!”

“Do you think I’m dumb, kid? Despite your feeble attempts to hide it from me, I’ve heard on good authority from Viggo and other sources that you two have grown exponentially closer during the past few years,” the Lucario sighed.

“S-so? What’s wrong with that? Its not like I’m bugging her or anything…”

“Perhaps in your view, Eli. However, you have much to learn about personal responsibility,” the Sage murmured gravely before clearing his throat. “Listen, you obviously have an eye for my granddaughter, and under normal circumstances that would be perfectly fine. Except for one little problem,” he said as he leaned forward and glared into Eli’s eyes. “She’s still training to become an Envoy! Viggo and I have noticed her studies slipping ever since you left and she evolved. I asked her about it, and from what I could gather you’ve been having an inordinate effect on her even when you’re not around!”

Eli had been listening carefully with baited breath to every word that the Sage had been saying to him about Lara so far, as he was utterly terrified of letting too much information slip. However, after the old Lucario confirmed that he had managed to affect Lara even when he wasn’t around, the smugness that had been present earlier in their conversation quickly returned in full force, this time with a hint of impish pride. “Oh~? I have, huh~?” he snickered while trying and failing to contain what was perhaps the cheekiest smirk of his life.

“Wipe that stupid grin off your face at once, Eli!” the Sage barked even as the Riolu continued to giggle to himself. “I wasn’t giving you a compliment, you know! Anyway, the fact of the matter is that you’re causing her feelings to get in the way of her training. And that’s unacceptable! My family has prided itself on our ability to put our duties ahead of our personal feelings! And you… _You_ of all Pokémon…” he growled, quivering as he pointed a digit towards Eli. “You’re endangering that!”

“Well, shucks! I had no idea I had it in me…” Eli cooed coyly.

“Don’t congratulate yourself yet, you little smartass. If you think I’m going to let you just waltz in and put my precious Lara’s prospects to become a great Envoy in jeopardy, you can think again!”

“Now hold on a second! I’m not trying to make her slip up, I swear! Heck, I didn’t even know this was happening all this time…”

“Its not that I think you’re doing it on purpose, its that you’re obviously too pig-headed and self-centered to realize the damage you’re doing,” the Lucario grumbled.

“Damage? Oh please, all we do is talk and help each other with training! There’s really nothing to worry about,” Eli replied dismissively. “We’re still just friends! If you insist then I’ll be sure to take her goals into account, you can trust me!”

“After you’ve already asked her on a date to the Springtide Festival without my permission? I don’t think so,” the Sage murmured smarmily, glowering at the Riolu.

“Wha—,” Eli gasped, jolting in surprise.

“Oh yes, I know, Eli. Viggo told me. There’s no use hiding it.”

“Aw Sage, that’s just—,” Eli tried to respond, but was sharply cut off by the Lucario.

“I forbid it.”

“Huh?!”

“FORBIDDEN!”

“But Sage!”

“Absolutely out of the question!”

“Sage, _please_! Lara said yes and she was really excited to go with me! I went through a lot of trouble to get her a meaningful gift, too!” the Riolu pleaded. “Neither of us wanna disappoint her, right? Can you imagine how sad she’ll be if our date is canceled? Throw me a bone and just let us have this one date at least!”

The old Lucario rubbed his furry chin and stroked his white beard for a few moments, raising an eyebrow at the young Riolu’s words. Eli looked on, hoping that his passionate plea would sway the elder’s opinions on the matter at least a little bit. “Hrrrrrrmm…. Well if you’ve got the breath to beg and plead, then perhaps you also have the ability to explain yourself in a mature manner. Tell you what; I’ll give you one chance to convince me that you’re trustworthy enough to court Lara. I’ll ask you just one question. What one quality draws you to a girl?”

“Uh… I um…”

“Mmhmm…”

“I uh, like girls that…”

“Okay, yes, yes. You like _girls_ , good to know. Out with the rest, boy.”

Eli’s teenage, hormone-addled brain had almost instantly produced an answer for him, but there was no way he was dumb enough to spout it out. _“Oh man, I can’t say THAT! He’ll freaking kill me on the spot!”_ the Riolu thought frantically while trying to think of something meaningful but not too fake to say. _“What sort of answer is he expecting from me?! I could just say something cliché but that won’t cut it. The Sage isn’t an idiot, he’ll know if I’m just making something up and he’s sure to call me on it! But I’m also not really great at sappy stuff either… But there’s one thing I can say that’s true, which is that she’s super strong, so much that I’ve dedicated a lot of my time to besting her in battle! Yeah, that’s it! He’ll appreciate that! But I have to make sure not to sound too cheesy or he’ll think I’m faking it. I’ll just have to be as honest as I can! Here goes!”_ The Riolu smiled at the Sage and placed his paws on his hips, standing firm as he proudly puffed out his chest and cleared his throat, confident and ready to give his answer. “I like girls that can beat me up!”

“…GET OUT!”

* * *

Toft fluttered and soared through the night air, the letter from the Sage clutched tight in his talon with the light breeze from the sea buffeting his small body as he flew above the treetops. He occasionally found himself looking around for any signs of Voids that might have wandered from the Dungeon and picked up on the faint sound of his flapping wings. However, he knew that even if he was able to remain completely silent, there would still be a chance that he could be found because of his Aura. The thought of being preyed upon by those shadowy beasts was enough to make him sweat, but not enough to break his concentration on the very important mission he had been given. Thankfully, his flight so far had gone according to plan.

The trip from Auraciel to Zephyros that took most Pokémon a good hour or so only took the Pidove around ten minutes to complete. With the expediency expected of him, he sure was glad that he had been born a flying-type Pokémon. He had never walked the rugged road from Zephyros to the temple, and he honestly never wanted to. The crows found along that route were known to be jerks at times. 

It wasn’t long before he caught sight of his destination; the darkened rooftops of Zephyros, with their softly-glowing windows and chimneys that spouted plumes of smoke that billowed into the night sky like apparitions before dispersing into thin air. He was in the home stretch, and now he just had to reach the Mayor’s residence— conveniently located atop town hall.

It wasn’t much of a chore for him to find town hall, which had predictably been built at the head of Windfall Square— the site of numerous public events and festivities, including the upcoming Springtide Festival. It was one of the largest structures in town at five stories tall, with several white marble pillars holding up its entrance and a big bell-tower capping off its roof. The mayor and a few of his staff resided on the fourth floor, as suggested by an array of open-air balconies with small tables, chairs, and decorative pottery sitting on them. There was a balcony longer than all the others, with a door at each end rather than one in the center. This was the terminus for any flying messenger, not just himself, to land and meet with the mayor or other members of his staff as well as hand off urgent letters like the one he held in his talons at that very moment.

The Pidove had made this very same trip a few times before, but never so late. As such, the wood and glass door on the balcony that he usually landed on to deliver letters directly to the mayor was closed, and there were no lights on inside either. He sighed heavily as he slowed his descent and landed on the railing of the balcony, hopping over to the door on one foot as he didn’t want to drop or damage the parchment he had been carrying.

“Please be up, please be up!” he whined as he fluttered onto the surface of the door, his free talon gripping an embossed part of it that he could use as a makeshift ledge. He caught his breath and thought for a moment, unsure how to proceed as he didn’t exactly want to peck on the glass for fear of breaking it. However, he didn’t really know of any other way to get the attention of those inside. However, he quickly came up with a better idea, which was to use a talon to knock instead. He reached down and took the letter with his beak, freeing up his talon while the other continued to grip the door.

With that, he began to gently knock on the door’s glass with his talon, his taps getting louder and more frequent as he got the hang of it. About a minute passed before he saw a light turn on inside through the closed curtains, and he breathed a sigh of relief as his efforts had paid off. However, instead of the door he was standing on opening like he expected, Toft could see another light turn on through the door on the opposite side, which led to the mayor’s assistant’s office. The little Pidove tilted his head in confusion as the other door swung open and a rotund, pink-skinned Pokémon walked out onto the balcony. The stone terrace shook slightly with every step the plump creature took as his chubby face and beady eyes looked strained just from the small actions he was taking. He groaned and grumbled as he looked around, bringing a doughy arm up to his spherical torso before turning towards the Pidove. It was then that their eyes met and the two got a better idea of what they were looking at.

“Hurmph! And just what in the world are you doing here at a time like this? Mleh!” the large, pink Pokémon snorted in a deep, somewhat goofy voice as an incredibly thick and long tongue flopped out of his mouth and landed against his bulging belly with a wet slap.

“AAAUGH!” Toft screeched in fear as the wet, slimy muscle emerged and wiggled disturbingly. He was so perturbed by what he had just seen that he reflexively jumped off of the door and flung the letter he had been holding into the air. “Oh, cripes! The Mayor’s letter!” he choked as the rolled-up parchment spun through the air and began to fall off the side of the balcony. The big Pokémon immediately noticed the letter and with a glint in his eye and reflexes quicker than expected, whipped his long, slick tongue towards it and successfully caught it before it fell too far. He then retracted his tongue with a loud slurp, bringing the letter with it. He grabbed the letter off the tip of his tongue and inspected it for a moment before shooting an annoyed glare at Toft.

“Do you have _any_ idea how late it is for shenanigans like these?” he sighed.

“Wh-who the heck are you?! You’re not the mayor _or_ his assistant! Are you a burglar?! A vandal?!” he squawked frantically as he tried to land back on the railing. Although the stranger had graciously caught his letter for him, the Pidove couldn’t help but eye his sticky, saliva-coated tongue warily. “Don’t tell me… You didn’t EAT them, did you?!” he gasped as he nearly fell off the balcony after conjuring such a horrifying vision for himself. “Say it ‘aint so! Give them back right now!”

“Huuurrmph… You were sent here to test my patience, weren’t you?” the unknown Pokémon grumbled. “Don’t you think I get enough comments like that from ignorant jerks already? This is just how we Lickilicky look! I can’t help it!” he huffed as he stuck his tongue out a bit and turned his nose up at the Pidove.

“A… Lickilicky, huh?” Toft grunted as he hopped a bit closer to the stranger and looked him up and down.

“Yes, a Lickilicky. I’m not some demon of gluttony, just an ordinary Pokémon like you, little Pidove.”

“S-sorry, I just never met one of your kind before. Your appearance took me by surprise, that’s all,” Toft murmured sheepishly. “Oh, and uh… Sorry if I offended you!”

“Whatever gave you that idea?” the Lickilicky muttered sarcastically.

“But who are you, anyway? And where’s the mayor and his assistant?”

“Hmm? You’re lookin’ at one of ‘em, guy,” the Lickilicky responded as he pointed to himself with one of his nubby hands.

“Wha?! Then you must be…”

“The mayor’s assistant.”

“But what happened to—,” Toft asked, but was cut off by the Lickilicky.

“The old one resigned, obviously. I’m his replacement.”

“Huh. That’s news to me.”

“Really? I’ve worked here for three whole months already!”

“I guess I never heard that the old one left because I don’t live in Zephyros…”

“Hmm?” the Lickilicky murmured as he reached up and rubbed his chin in thought. “Where exactly are you from, then?” 

“I came here from Auraciel. Ya know, the Auracle temple just up the way?”

“Oh, you did, huh?” the Lickilicky grunted as he held up the letter. “Then THIS must be a payment of compensation for damages!”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You heard me. Compensation for damages that your little Riolu menace caused over the past month!”

“Wait… You mean Eli?”

“Ah, right! _That_ was the little bugger’s name. Friend of yours’?” the Lickilicky sneered.

“N-no, not exactly! I don’t even really know him that well!” the Pidove gulped. “And no, that’s not what the letter is about, but I’ll be sure to bring it up to the Sage once I get back,” he added nervously.

“Hurmph! That so? Well I suppose I’ll have to wait on those payments a little while longer. I’m _positive_ your Sage is scrounging them together right now…” the Lickilicky groaned as he rolled his eyes.

“W-well at any rate, I really need to get that letter to Mayor Cecil,” Toft replied, hoping to change the subject as he pointed to the parchment that the assistant was holding. “Its of the utmost urgency! Where is he, anyway?”

“What’s all this ruckus about?” a tired, gravelly voice asked from behind the door closest to the Pidove, accompanied by the sound of heavy footsteps.

“Does that answer your question?” the Lickilicky grumbled to Toft as the other door creaked open.

Out through the door and onto the balcony stomped a wide, bulky turtle-like Pokémon with blue skin and dark rocks encrusted on its face, back, stomach and flippers. He wore a necklace around his thick neck crafted from sturdy rope with painted wooden charms hanging from it, some shaped like swirls and others like sea creatures. He also had a somewhat dour expression that made him look quite serious and intimidating under the moonlight, but Toft wasn’t unnerved in the slightest because he just so happened to know him quite well. “Olaf, what’s going on out here? Do you have any idea how late it is?” the Pokémon, known as a Carracosta yawned in a slightly annoyed fashion before spotting the Pidove perched on the railing. “Well by the stone of my shell, its Toft! Its been a while hasn’t it, my friend?” he addressed cordially as he gave him a welcoming smile.

“Yes it has, Mayor Cecil! I wish our meeting could’ve taken place under better circumstances, but I have some grave news to deliver from Sage Linus… You’d better take a look right away,” the Pidove murmured as the Carracosta glanced at his assistant and noticed the letter in his grip.

“Thank you, Toft. I’ll be sure to read it at once in my office. If this came directly from Linus then its sure to be important,” he told him as he turned back towards the door and motioned for Olaf to head inside as well. However, before going inside he looked to Toft and gave him a warm smile and a slow nod. “Oh, and please be sure to give him my sincerest thanks as always.” 

“Sure thing, Mister Mayor! Take care!” Toft replied bashfully as he flapped into the air and flew away into the night sky.

“B-but sir, shouldn’t we make sure that he asks their Sage about—,” Olaf tried to say, but was cut off by the Mayor.

“That’s enough, Olaf. We already spoke about this, didn’t we?” he replied sternly. “I said that we would cover the damages in full and that was the end of it.”

“I understand that, but—.” 

“Good, now come along then! Let’s get this letter inside. I’m gonna need some light to read it.”

“Erm, y-yes, Sir…” 

They both made their way back inside and walked down an adjoining hallway towards the Mayor’s office. As they traversed the quiet, darkened corridors of the town hall, a tense silence hung in the air between them. Olaf made an effort to keep pace with Cecil, and cleared his throat as he started to talk again.

“Mayor, forgive me for being so persistent but honestly… You really shouldn’t be letting this go so easily!” the Lickilicky protested.

“I’ve made up my mind, Olaf,” the Mayor sighed. “Disciplining that kid is a bit tougher than you think due to his connections with the temple. Despite this, Linus assured me that he would do his best to straighten him out and that was our agreement for relenting on him. The affected parties have been compensated and Linus will handle the boy himself. However, if things get too out of hand, I’ll reserve the right to deal with him in any way I see fit,” the Carracosta firmly explained.

“That’s not fair, Mister Mayor! That Riolu is one of the most egregious—.”

“Assuming that what you’re about to say is even true, your acute focus on him wouldn’t happen to be because he’s personally annoyed you, is it?”

“And what if it is?” Olaf huffed. “That’s not the only reason, mind you! He’s a bad influence on our town! It already has its fair share of problems, and if you allow him to run rampant all over it then things will only get worse…”

“We already have high crime rates and that hasn’t changed for several decades. It’s the nature of our location. Zephyr Island is essentially a rest stop on the way to bigger and brighter waters. We get all sorts here; anyone from drunken sailors and rowdy tourists to brigands and mercenaries. We’re bound to attract various ne’er-do-wells which our guards are ill-equipped to deal with because so many travelers are coming and going at any given time.”

“But sir! This is a slippery slope you’re navigating. If you go soft on one troublemaker then before you know it you’ll have scores of other thugs acting the same or even worse since they know they can get away with it,” the Lickilicky insisted. “You have to set an example! You’re the highest elected authority in town aren’t you, mleh?”

“Olaf, please. I’ve tried cracking down hard on crime before, and all that did was force the troublemakers to be craftier with their exploits, making it more difficult to pursue them. It didn’t stop a thing. What we need isn’t stronger authority, but rather better resources. Unfortunately I’ve been at a loss as to what to do about that,” Mayor Cecil responded tiredly as he opened the door to his office and walked in. Olaf quickly waddled over to the Mayor’s desk ahead of him, switching on a small gas lamp that would provide some reading light.

“With all due respect, Sir, that might be because you’re not thinking enough outside the box. Quite a few folks in the town council have some pretty deep pockets. All we have to do is convince them to—,” he began to say, but was once again interrupted by the old Carracosta.

“I’ve tried that in the past, but they’re all notoriously tight-fisted. They care more about courting tourists than helping their fellow citizens because they’re the ones with the money. They rarely ever throw their wealth behind something unless it threatens their ability to profit. But honestly, what could I do about that? Threaten them?” he sighed as he lumbered around to the other side of his large desk and took a seat on a big chair, placing his flippers onto the desk’s surface.

Olaf closed his eyes and groaned as he shook his head. “I’m just trying to help you out, Mayor… I wouldn’t be doing my job as your assistant if I didn’t.”

“Well… You can start by opening that letter you’re holding for me,” the Carracosta murmured dismissively.

“Hurmph. Right, here you go, mlem,” Olaf grumbled as he unfurled the parchment and placed it on the desk in front of the Mayor so that he could read it.

“Thank you,” Cecil told him as he began to read the letter. He leaned down and read its contents carefully, his expression changing from intrigued to worrisome the further he got. Olaf wasn’t standing close enough to read it himself, but from what he could tell on his boss’s face, it wasn’t good.

“Sooo… What’s going on?” the Lickilicky asked.

The Carracosta let out a deep sigh and shook his head. “Bad news from Auraciel. It seems that a Mystery Dungeon has once again decided to plague our little island…” he murmured grimly.

Olaf grunted loudly and nearly fell backwards onto the floor when his boss uttered the word “Mystery Dungeon”. His eyes grew wide and he began to shiver as his mouth fell agape, his long, slimy tongue dropping onto the carpet in complete shock. “BLEH?! W-w-what did you just say, Mayor?!” he whimpered as beads of sweat started to trickle down his spherical head. “You… You can’t be serious! Surely th-they m-must be mistaken!”

“I’m afraid that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ve known Linus for many years, and he’d never send me something like this without good reason,” the Carracosta replied. “He must be telling the truth. And what’s worse is that he’s confirmed that the Dungeon has started spawning Voids.”

“Y-you’ve got to be kidding!” Olaf shouted frantically. “Oh no! OH NO! No no no! This is unbelievable! This is the worst! The absolute worst scenario possible!”

“Calm down, my friend! Losing our heads isn’t going to help us solve this problem, now is it?”

“Y-you’re right… You’re right, Mayor,” the Lickilicky panted as he leaned on a nearby table to help steady himself. “But what can we do? The Springtide Festival starts in just three days! You know what that means! Zephyros will be swarming with tourists, and with hordes of Voids at large its sure to be a disaster!”

“Hrrm. I _would_ prefer postponing the festivities until we get this situation sorted out, but I have a feeling that the town council will veto my decision. They have too much money riding on the festival, so putting it off and discouraging tourists from attending is something they’re not likely to agree to,” the Mayor sighed as he placed a flipper on his forehead. “Its all just such bad timing…”

“W-well uh… M-maybe the Voids will just, um, stay away from Zephyros for the time being, huh?” Olaf suggested nervously. “Or at least until the festival is over…”

“Not likely, chum,” the Carracosta replied solemnly. “Those Voids have already attacked Auraciel and their Guardians, and they’ll most likely come after our town once they get a whiff of our citizens’ Aura.”

“Hurmph! This is all looking very bleak, Sir…”

“Not entirely, Olaf,” the Mayor replied, causing the Lickilicky to look up.

“W-what are you saying, Mister Mayor? Do you have a plan?”

“I’m going to see if I can convince any of the council members to postpone the festivities tomorrow, but my hopes for that aren’t high. At the very least however, our town guards and the Auracle Guardians can cooperate in order to keep the Voids contained around the Dungeon as much as we can.”

“S-sure, but won’t the Voids just eventually overrun us?”

“Yes, they will. We’ll only be able to fix this mess by permanently destroying the Voids and closing that Mystery Dungeon. And that’s precisely where the next part of my plan comes into fruition,” the Carracosta replied with a smirk. “You see, Olaf… I haven’t told you this yet, but I just so happen to have some very beneficial connections in the Far Realms.”

“Beneficial connections?” Olaf asked in confusion. “Just what are you talking about?”

“Not what. _Who_ ,” Cecil chuckled as he reached down and opened one of his desk’s drawers. He grabbed something inside and placed it on top of the desk, allowing Olaf to see what it was. The Lickilicky waddled over to the desk and saw that it was a small, clear orb with a metallic ring wrapped around it and gasped in surprise.

“Wait a second! I’ve seen one of these things before! That’s a—!”

“A Link Orb,” the Mayor confirmed with a cheeky smirk.

“Th-that’s an advanced, long-distance communication device, right? I know that there are other components and devices it can connect to, but even with that basic orb you’ve got you can still communicate with others that also have one…”

“I don’t really know what a lot of those terms mean, but yes! That’s essentially what I was planning on using it for.”

“So, you’re going to contact someone on that thing?” Olaf asked skeptically. “Just who, exactly?”

“An old friend of mine,” Cecil replied jovially. “He’s the one who gave this thing to me so that we could remain in contact even over long distances. And he just so happens to have access to precisely what we need to turn things around…”

* * *

**End of Chapter 4…**

* * *

**_Author’s Note #4: Kept You Waiting, Huh?_ **

****

_Alright, so… A lot has changed since the last time I updated this story and spoke to all of you!_

_This chapter took way, way, WAY longer to write than expected, first of all. Its undoubtedly the longest chapter yet, and I’ve come to realize that I’m absolutely horrible at predicting how long my chapters are going to end up being…_

_Anyway, 2020, huh? What a freaking year. Sorry, but there was a lot happening for me on top of everything else that’s been going on in the world, so I’ve been incredibly busy and stressed out to the point that writing my story was one of the last things I was thinking about. The pandemic really threw a wrench in my momentum and plans, as I used to work as a substitute teacher and as you can probably guess, once the schools in my area closed down they no longer had need for any substitutes. I was out of a job and had to put all of my energy towards finding a new one— one that was much more stable in the current state of things. Unfortunately that search took me most of the year, as I only found a new job last month. On top of that, I had my foot surgery continually postponed but that’s over with now. So yeah, those are all of my reasons as to why development of this story took a backseat for most of the year. I really didn’t want it to happen this way, as I started this year with a lot of enthusiasm for it since I was finally beginning it after years of coming up with ideas and failed rough drafts. I was originally hoping to have one chapter uploaded a month, but that came to a halt once the pandemic happened. That being said, I’m hopeful for 2021 and I’m starting to get back into the groove of things now that I have a more secure job._

_I’m very sorry for leaving you all in the dark for the better part of a year, but I want to assure everyone that I WILL NOT drop or cancel this story on a whim. No way in hell! Unless I make an official update stating otherwise, this story is **always** being worked on. I have no idea how long it will take me to finish, but that’s not important…_

_To make it up to you, I just released this 18,000 word behemoth of a chapter! I debated breaking it into two chapters, but I just didn’t think it would have been as satisfying that way. Don’t read it all in one sitting… (Yeesh, what am I, a Wii game?)_

_As always, I welcome any positive or negative reviews and criticism you have! I could really use some feedback on the story so far as I would consider these first four chapters to be the first act of the first arc (man, that’s a lot of firsts!)._

_To round things off this time, I’m going to be honest and say that this is my last update of the year and I don’t know when Chapter 5 will release. I haven’t started working on it yet and I probably won’t for a few weeks at least because I feel like I need to take a look at some behind the scenes stuff with the story in order to iron out some crucial details. Though I can definitely say that it won’t take as long as this last one did! Not by a long shot!_

_I know this author’s note is absurdly long already but I just wanted to provide an update for you all and say thank you to everyone who has waited patiently for my stupid ass to finish this chapter. You’re the best. I’ll see you all in 2021!_

_For now, this is LiquidMadMan, signing off!_


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